#sabine: and also how do i tell her i like it (a lot)

[timetodiverge]

Sabine: how do I tell my girlfriend that she bites when we kiss

Force-Ghost Anakin: ....you summoned me to ask that??

Pose reference by @somewillwin (on their new Patreon!!)

[gffa]

I don't know if you have read about Filoni saying that anybody/everybody can use the force now, that it was GL's vision on the force which is clearly a misinterpretation imo, to me he's just trying to make excuses for his bad writting about Sabine in the Ahsoka series. I do like the idea of everyone being part of the living force but I hardly dislike to think that anyone can be force sensitive and "become a Jedi" like they are trying to imply now. I mean, being a Jedi is more than being sensitive i know but I hope i make sense in what i'm trying to say here. I do like Sabine in Rebels she is such a good character as she is, a badass Mandalorian, why everyone needs suddenly use the force and be a Jedi out of nowhere? I'd like to know your opinion about it if you feel like answering. Thanks.

I mean, I will give Felony this: I'm pretty sure Lucas did say somewhere along the way that the Force is for everyone/that everyone can use the Force. My issue with Felony isn't that Sabine can use the Force, it's that his writing to take her down that path felt disconnected from her entire established story and that he stretched the worldbuilding too far--being able to grab your lightsaber in battle, okay, sure, maybe I could accept that, but the ability to also give Ezra a massive push across that huge of a distance. The Jedi have always said the Force is for everyone, Yoda gives a whole speech to Jek, Thyre, and and Rhys about how they can use the Force to quiet their minds in the very first episode of TCW. I don't have Lucas' quote on hand, so take it or leave it as you will, but I do think "the Force is for everyone" fits with his themes. I just don't think that Sabine being written as a Jedi makes sense for her character, even given how lost and adrift she felt (not that we actually got to see any of the important part of why she would turn down this path, just suddenly she's here! and only monologuing to tell us what happened), beyond Felony wanted her to be special. And I'm all for female characters getting to be special (male characters get to be special all the time) but not at the expense of breaking the worldbuilding, because now being able to wield the Force means less, because it's being handed out like candy to Felony's faves, rather than something that has worldbuilding and thematic rules. But that's also coming from someone who cares more about the Force and the themes of the narrative than almost any single character in Star Wars, so I treat it as being rather precious, and other people aren't going to feel the same way. A lot of people probably did love Sabine getting to use the Force. If Sabine had genuinely only been able to do small things or used it to quiet her mind/feel connected to the galaxy, I would have been perfectly fine with that. That made sense to me. But that giant push for Ezra to get him on the ship? Blehhhhh, that was more about making a Dramatic Moment than it was about keeping to the themes of Star Wars. So, personally, I'm just kind of compartmentalizing it into "Felony's pet fave gets special treatment, I'm not counting it towards worldbuilding" because I just don't care enough anymore. XD

[serialadoptersbracket]

Round 5, Match 3: The Fix vs. Kanan Jarrus and Hera Syndulla

Submitted kids:

The Fix: Conrad Schintz, and then he adopted like, an whole orphanage, named Madam Loathings home for wayward interests

Kanan and Hera: Ezra Bridger, Sabine Wren, Zeb Orrelios, Chopper

Propaganda under the cut!

The Fix:

1. “Ok ok so. Spoilers for mentopolis: First some context that mentopolis is a show that takes place inside one guys brain, all the characters represent something in the brain, and the guy whos brain they are in, named Elias Hodge, is so so very sad.

Ok so, The Fix, the personification of hyper fixation, is like is someone who has spent most of his life working for people, where his job was to 'eliminate distractions' (He kills people, basically). Then one day he is told to eliminate a child. His name is Conrad Schintz (Or the Conscience, due to an accident that happened to the guys who's brain they are in when he was a child- Conrad stopped thing he was useful, aka Elias stopped using his conscience, so his conscience has not grown since the incident, leaving him a small child)

The Fix has never had to hurt a kid before, and he doesn't want to do that, so he instead goes into protecting Conrad. Conrad kind of hates himself though and also kind of thinks he deserves to die so that's not good.

The Fix gave this like, beautiful speech to Conrad once about how hes important, I wont give the whole thing but something along the lines of "There is a butterfly who has a tail that is there for if a bird was to grab on to the tail, it would break off and the butterfly would escape. I don't think you are the tail of the butterfly, I think you are the butterfly." (its better in the actual show). I cry. There is another speech about eagles he gives Conrad when Conrad offers himself, to basically die, but i don't remember it that well.

Other then Conrad though! So There is this orphanage, called Madama Loathings home for wayward interests. Basically its a bunch of kids that represent past interests of Elias. Its run by this women called Madam Loathing (represents Elias' self Loathing)(she is very mean to the kids). The Fix donates a lot of money to this place, and visits a lot, the kids there love him and think he is so so cool. There is this one kid named Ronnie Reptile. He loves reptiles, and The fix gives him reptile facts, its cute. In the first episode, The Fix tells Madam Loathing how any of those kids/interests could be rediscovered by Elias at any time, and madam loathing sort of taunts The Fix, sort of saying how "Oh I'm sure I can tell the kids they will call be adopted by The Fix soon, but that would be kind of cruel, wouldn't it?" Implying that that won't happen. (cause, The Fix is hyper fixation, and hyper fixation adopting an interest would be good, you know.).

Note that Conrad used to live at madam loathing's, because he was mis identified as just a simple interest and not Elias' whole sense of conscience, but Corad ran away with his best friend, a dog named Justin. He lived on the streets after that.*

So a bit later on in the series The Fix and Conrad have to go to to madam loathing's together (and another character is with them but he isnt relevant for this). When they get there Madam Loathing asks The fix if he is here to drop of Conrad here, and The immediately is like "Absolutely not, shut the fuck up." (I think that's the direct quote). I just really like that scene.

At the end, end of the series. Some plot stuff happens. The Fix met a women named Pasha N (She represents Passon), and they are in love, The fix proposes to her, its sweet, but then madam Loathing, who got some like, character growth I won't really go into here, and she says to The Fix how, she needs to go on a trip to find herself, and then she offers the entire orphanage to The Fix and Pasha, which is accepted. So in the end of the show, The Fix has basically adopted, that entire orphanage, so thats a lot of kids, along with Pasha, but she isn't in the show as much so I wont submit them as a pair. I didnt mention it before but The Fix is known for knowing a lot of facts and saying "Did you know." before saying a fact, which a lot of the time, it is a fact that is truly terrifying but thats a lot, and The narration at the end of the shows, says how The Fix and Pasha spend their lives with kids around them, constantly saying "Did you know? Did you know?" and it is very sweet. Conrad sort of had his own ending away from The Fix, but I still head cannon that The Fix adopted him too and Conrad comes to the orphanage sometimes.”

2. “listen. i don't know if this really counts as propaganda but just saying, mr. the fix thinks you're not the tail of a swallowtail butterfly. you are the butterfly.”

Kanan Jarrus and Hera Syndulla:

“The parents ever. Healthiest family dynamics in the galaxy. Families that kill fascists together stay together. Kanan managed to keep an extremely traumatized child on the light side of the force, Hera kept a volatile Mandalorian from blowing herself up (and Chopper from murdering everyone). So good at adopting, they taught Ezra to adopt uncles with increasingly homicidal tendencies. So good at adopting, they successfully competed with the aforementioned crime uncles and kept Ezra. So good at adopting, they managed to adopt a grown ass man 10 years older than them.”

[universal-rebellion]

It's April in Jorvik - ( sabine x reader ) Chapter 1

hi! I plan to crosspost this fanfic to AO3 as soon as I get my invite :')

( cw: swearing. )

It’s April in Jorvik. 

The snow is off the ground, the grass is green, and the Equestrian Festival is finishing its preparations. 

And as for you, you were truly excited for it, but now you’re stuck running errands for your fellow Soul Riders… again.

You thought last year was ridiculous dealing with Alex and Linda’s last minute tasks, but this year was even worse. Both Anne and Lisa were tagging along this year which has added on to your own preparations for the festival. As much as you’re usually happy to help, you can’t help but curse to yourself this time for being so willingly. Stupid Soul Rider nonsense. All you wanted to do was practice and prepare your horses for the events you were set to participate in. But no, you’re were dealing with setting up another booth for the girls, helping Lisa gather her tack and outfits, and attempting to prevent Concorde from spooking at everything. Thankfully, everything other than Concorde has been dealt with, but now you’re losing light and you’re walking your horse next to Anne while she hand walks Concorde. 

This reincarnation of Concorde is, respectfully, a major pain in the ass. She still isn’t able to talk just yet, even after being aged by Vala, so it makes every situation worse because she can’t even tell you what her problem is. You were riding your starbreed, who is just about as fed up as you with everything. Unfortunately, for your horse, he was the best option for putting up with Concorde’s bullshit. The gelding pinned his ears at every out of line movement by Concorde. If she got too close he nipped at her, putting her back in line. By this point, you’ve figured out that she hates the balloons, so you were doing slow laps around the arena to get her accustomed to them. 

After your tenth lap Concorde finally calmed down enough to walk without trying to break free from Anne’s grasp. 

“ Anne, it's like 8pm. I think she’s about as desensitized to everything as she’s gonna get .” You give a gentle tug on your horse's reins and his ears pricked back up as he stopped. Anne looked at you and looked back to her horse, defeated. You hop off your gelding and give his neck a good pat. 

“ She’s as good as she’s going to get. ” Anne reiterates your sentiment with a sigh. 

“ Can we please get back to the stables? Between everything I’ve done today, I haven’t had time to see my other horses that I might be riding tomorrow. ” 

Anne nods. “ I have to deal with cleaning up Concorde anyways. She isn’t anywhere where she needs to be if she’s possibly going to be performing tomorrow. ” The grey mare pinned her ears back at her and snorted in annoyance at the notion she isn’t up to par. Does it make sense to clean a grey horse the night before a competition..? Who knows, but you aren’t gonna rain on her parade. However, Concorde’s a priss so maybe she’d stay clean. The two of you start your walk back over to the stables and trailers. You don’t bother to grab your starbreed’s reins, he follows you along like a dog. Besides, you’re too focused on making sure Concorde doesn’t try to pull a fast one on the two of you.

“ Where are you stalling her? Are you bringing her back to your home stable or are you staying here for the night? ” 

“ I could not imagine leaving her here. ” Anne practically scoffed at you. “ We are going back home. I won’t lie, I truly don’t know how I’d fit all of my outfits and whatnot into a suitcase. Also, where on earth would I get ready? ” 

“ I’m staying at the inn? A lot of the people who are competing are staying at the inn? ” You give her a look. Anne returned the look and rolled her eyes. 

“ Yeah, not happening. I’ll just deal with waking up earlier tomorrow. “ You shrug at her and the two of you finish your walk to the stable and part ways. Your horse audibly breathed a sigh of relief when Concorde was out of sight. You chuckled at him and gave him a pat on the shoulder.

“ Yeah, I know. That was awful. But, hey, you were great, boy. ” You gave him a rub on the forehead. “ Let’s get that tack off of you, you deserve some rest. ” You led him to his stall and untacked him, leaving his tack on the stand next to his stall door. 

As you walked out the stall he tried to follow behind, but was stopped by you closing his door. He bobbed his head and snorted at you in protest. 

“ I didn’t forget bud, I promise. ” You rummage through the bag you brought and grab your bucket of Stud Muffins. The starbreed eagerly, but politely, snatched the treat from your hand, satisfied. 

You turn to the next couple of stalls and see the two other horses you brought with you. You were set to compete in a few categories in the following days and decided to use some of your other horses to give them some time away from the stables.

Your starbreed was going to be your horse for the cross country section. That honestly should be a given from the amount of nonsense the two of you have gotten yourself into throughout all of Jorvik.

 You brought an 11 year-old Belgian Warmblood gelding for show jumping. Thunder is black with a small snip on his nose and he towers over you at a good 16.9 hands. He’s been with you for a while now and has proved to be a fantastic performer.  

Finally, you brought your new 6 year-old Andalusian mare for dressage. Daybreak is a gorgeous dapple grey mare, you are still in awe that you managed to snag her. In all honesty, you aren’t too serious about the dressage portion, but you thought it’d be a good experience just to test out your new mare in the ring. However, you know that she’d be fantastic no matter the rider. 

You give the two of them their own Stud Muffins and give them both a scratch for good measure. 

You were in your own world when suddenly two tall shadows nearly made you jump out of your skin. At the entrance of the stable a tall woman walks in leading a large black Fresian through the door. It doesn’t take you long to realize who it was.

Sabine. 

Of course. Why wouldn’t she be here? She was the last two years. You briefly recall the events that transpired between the two of you last April and the one before. 

You stay silent and try to finish up your chores for the night, grabbing a bucket for your horses’ grain. Khaan's steps thundering through the otherwise silent barn.

Annnnnnd of course she has Khaan stalled right next to your overly friendly gelding, Thunder. You mentally groan and try to not let your embarrassment show. The black gelding immediately tries to make friends with Khaan through the bars separating their stalls. The larger stallion pins his ears back at the attention, but doesn’t truly react until Sabine exits the stall. The moment she closes the stall door, the Fresian emits the lowest squeal you’ve ever heard from a horse and he kicks at the wall separating them. Thunder backs off and goes to seek attention from Sabine. She ignores his attempts and flings Khaan’s lead rope over her shoulder.

Sabine glares in your direction before turning to a bag sat next to Khaan’s stall door, pulling out a hoof pick and returning inside Khaan’s stall. Hm, bold after your horse just raised hell.

“ Wouldn’t have taken you as a person with more than one horse. ” She commented as she began to work on Khaan’s hooves, not bothering to make eye contact with you. “ Thought a Soul Rider would be too loyal to even think about it. ” 

You try and fail miserably to stop yourself from chuckling which earns you another glare and scowl in your direction when she puts Khaan’s hoof down. 

“ And I wouldn’t take the Dark Rider as one that would stall their horse in a public stable. ” You shoot back at her sarcastically, but lightheartedly. “ But I guess, no one else really knows that you’re a Dark Rider here. So, what difference does it make? ”  You say as you dump grain into Thunder’s feed bucket, which makes him entirely forget about Sabine and Khaan. 

“ You should see my home stable. It’d make your head spin if you think me having two other horses is more than you expected. ” You make your way back to your bag of grain, making Daybreak’s dinner. Sabine gave an audible huff as she finished up her work on her horse’s feet. She exited the stall again and threw the pick down in her bag. 

“ I don’t think it’s really any of your business why I have Khaan stalled here. Why don’t you just focus on your horses and I’ll deal with mine.” Ah there you go, that’s the Sabine you remember.

“Hey, you spoke first.” You dump the grain into your mare’s bucket. The two of you go to your work in awkward silence. You weren’t really sure why you were comfortable being alone with her, or moreso, why you didn't feel threatened by her presence. However, your starbreed wasn’t too happy about her being so close to you. You could feel him grow uneasy as you heard him pace and paw at the ground. Maybe you were too tired to really acknowledge the amount of danger you could be in? However, she didn’t seem too intimidating right now. If anything, she was a bit underwhelming for what you’d expect. 

You finish up your tasks with your horses and hang your feed bucket up. Looking over to Sabine you see that she’s fiddling with something in her bag. 

“ If you get bored again, I’m always up for a chase around Jarlaheim between competitions. ” You said picking up your bag. “ I could always use the warmup for my horses. ” Sabine stops what she was doing and cocks an eyebrow at you.

“ And willingly give you what you'd consider an advantage? That’s the stupidest shit I think I ever heard you say Soul Rider. ” She practically chuckles at you, dumbfounded by your words. 

“ Thought you’d enjoy the chance to kick my ass and leave me in the dirt. You know, like the last two years. ” You shrugged. “ Whatever. If you change your mind I’ll be around. ” You walk off and make your way back to the inn to call it a night, not waiting for her response.

That was fucking stupid.

[loth-creatures]

I’d love to hear your wall of text about the Sion’s voyage!

Aight, so if there's one thing I hated about the show it's that the journey to a whole ass new galaxy felt like it took 5 minutes. So in my star war it takes roughly 7 weeks and it fucking SUCKS

Disclaimer; this is just a huge mess from my head, nothing is set in stone, and I'm only really planning to comicify the last few parts ;)

Also cw for some implied self-harm ideation, terrible coping mechanisms, deteriorating mental health, violence and injuries (just mentioned, not in detail)

To set the scene, they're using the training/rec room as Sabine’s prison bc Wolfbine is too big for the actual brig lol. Much to the entire crew's irritation. The first week or two they just handcuff her in a corner at blasterpoint whenever they want to use it I guess, and find a closet to lock loose equipment in. At least she gets some entertainment. She probably also gets beat up a few times (you should see the other guy) for commenting on people's techniques. But eventually they decide she probably won't try anything and stop caring she's there, so she's left alone for the most part.

She spends a lot of time working out, bc otherwise she is strongly considering bashing her head into the wall. Having to sit alone as a human and pace in circles as a wolf for days on end with the weight of her decision and all kinds of fresh guilt is doing terrible things to her head...She is also spending a lot of time trying and failing not to sob and scream in the shower when no one's around. There is also a viewport in the rec room and Sabine spends an unhealthy amount of time staring into the rainbow swirl of hyperspace. She can't tell whether or not she's hallucinating the strange shapes that occasionally drift into view, singing strange songs that she can feel more than hear. It reminds her of the ocean and she shudders and dreams of drowning, being crushed by the depths. And she dreams of Ezra alone and lost in this void. There's no easy way to break free of such thoughts when she's essentially trapped in a fish bowl.

Meanwhile, Shin hates Sabine even more now for making her a Wolfwalker. She is not adjusting well to turning into a giant beast every time she tries to sleep and on a cramped vessel with little space to stretch those legs. Having been bitten only just before boarding the Sion, she hasn't had the chance to run wild for miles with the wind in her fur; all she knows is that the journey feels twice as long and horrid when she's consious 24/7. Baylan, on the other hand, is like DO YOU REALIZE HOW AWESOME THIS IS?! YOU SHOULD BE THANKING HER. He's not jealous persay, but. Well. Careful what you wish for...

Wolf Sabine and Shin are both getting major zoochosis smh. It's a miracle Shin hasn't killed a random crew member yet. Wolfbine behaves for maybe a week before she starts chewing up the flooring and howling and screaming husky style just to be a little shit. See how long it takes before someone threatens to shoot her, muzzle her, throw her out the airlock (not long). She can't afford to antagonize the crew too much bc there is only one person on the entire ship who wants her there and he has limited authority. Baylan is quick to remind her of this.

He also makes several attempts to talk to her and get on better terms, as he would like to learn more about the wolves. He tells her of the old fragments of stories of Wolfwalkers he found in the Jedi Temple on Coruscant and his facsination with them and how chasing such tales lead to his other ambitions. Lowkey info-dumping about all the fairy-tales and mythalogical stuff that Shin never took an interest in. Sabine is deathly bored enough to tolerate it to extent, but she is not forgiving him for 'killing' Ahsoka, for digging in her head, for putting her in this situation, and she is absolutely kicking herself for having bitten Shin. For letting anyone affiliated with the Empire close to Lothal's secrets. Too her it's put a deep crack through her promise to protect Lothal, perhaps not as much as having given Thrawn a way home, but she's going to try her damnest to undo that one, and shoves that looming guilt aside as best she can, instead spiraling about the fact that she made Shin a Wolfwalker and short of killing her there is no undoing that. So most of her conversations with Baylan end with telling him to go fuck himself.

Just now realizing I've never gone into detail about why Sabine bit Shin. It was a complete accident. Split second reaction out of pain after taking another small slice from Shin’s lightsaber during their fight on Seatos, which she was able to heal herself but it slowed her down enough for Shin to escape. With a nasty little nip to the arm.

That all said Sabine does not want to kill Shin, in fact she's just starting to feel sorry for her. Shin might be all MY ARCH NEMESIS SABINE WREN, but from the beginning Sabine is just like ugh can this random chick stop making my life harder 🙄

And if she's this miserable as a wolf rn, she can imagine what Shin's going through as a first timer, which is all her fault :( plus the fact that as wolves they are instinctively drawn to other wolves and each of their suffering seems to exacerbate the other's. They are both so lonely. 2 weeks in and (human)Sabine is bored and desperate enough to try heckling Shin into sparring with her, on the rare occasion she passes by (Shin’s been avoiding that room). 3 weeks in and Shin's gotten bored and desperate enough to accept the invitation.

I hc that during a friendly match, most Force-users will refrain from using the Force against a non-Force-user for the most part. Shin is not interested in friendly and absolutely hammers Sabine unless Baylan is there to remind her to play nice. Sabine is fine with this. She wants Shin to use the Force (come at me bro). If anyone's gonna be holding back it's Sabine. She wants to get as familiar as possible with Shin's fighting skill and habits without revealing the full extent of her own, while also slowly learning to anticipate and work around Shin’s use of the Force. That way she'll have an advantage the next time they fight for reals. It's difficult to impossible to hold back though, while still presenting enough of a challenge to keep Shin coming back for more.

While Sabine is more experienced, with a wider range of techniques and more refined skill, Shin is still skilled and powerful and it's hardly a fair fight without her armor and gear. She gets her shit rocked.

Sabine is very rarely able to beat Shin when she's using the Force. But she can withstand her. Many of their fights don't end with a quick, decisive victory so much as Shin just wearing Sabine down until she physically can't fight anymore though she refuses to tap out or surrender. Because for one, it's pissing Shin off, which is fun. And for two, ending the fight means returning to the hell that is sitting alone and staring out that window until it makes her sick in the head. She would kill a man for a single can of paint.

While Shin is toying with Sabine and using her as a bunching bag on the basis that she asked for it, keeps asking for it, doesn't know when to give up, and totally deserves it 😤, she is no easy opponent and Shin is continuously shocked by Sabine's ability to survive her. She was supposed to be just another enemy to tear through, yet has survived two murder attempts, and Shin is now stuck with her on this godforsaken ship for some reason, and she doesn't even have the grace to admit when she's defeated. Unstoppable force has met unmovable object.

Shin simultaneously resents and admires her, though doesn't quite respect her yet. And she definitely fears her a little (though she would never admit that). I kinda get the vibe that Shin’s never really lost a fight, has never truly been left for dead at the end of a battle, and the thought terrifies her. Either she is invincible or she is dead. Meanwhile Sabine can be coughing up blood and she'll be like 'cool see you tmr'✌️😎 The fact that Shin probably deleted one of Sabine's kidneys on Lothal and she seems hardly intimidated is well. Intimidating. And annoying. And hot.

I feel like at some point Baylan would point out that Shin could probably learn a thing or two from Sabine if she would stop beating the shit out of her for two seconds. Shin is already aware of that but doesn't want to admit it.

Meanwhile Sabine just doesn't care anymore what happens to her as long as she lives long enough to get off this accursed vessel, doesn't care how hurt she gets, as long as it passes the time and distracts her from her spiraling thoughts. She's offered a medic multiple times and refuses each time. She doesn't want them seeing the full extent of her injuries and then finding out she can heal herself with the wolf-magic, bc the Empire doesn't need to know about that. She only heals the worst injuries and then gaslights Shin about it. 'You did not break any ribs lol I'm fine quit flattering yourself.' Shin’s like how the fuck are you still standing.

This routine of brutally taking out their frustrations on each other is gonna get old though, and is completely unsustainable. Eventually Shin’s convinced that Sabine is just using her for pain. Which isn't wrong even if it's not the only or even primary reason Sabine keeps asking. Sabine calls her out on fighting like a coward and enjoying hurting her anyway. Shin goes and sulks for a few days after that (not without punching Sabine in face first).

Ok time out. What the hell is Shin’s deal anyway. I have only some half-baked ideas about Baylan and Shin’s...thing. They're like the closest thing we've gotten to 'grey Jedi?' I guess? I've been operating under the assumption that that's what they're essentially trying to be (though it's not what they'd call themselves), something more than Jedi, Baylan says, and that 'more' is just chasing power. They will inevitably fall completely. Probably need to watch the show again to get a better read on them tbh but I would rather not. It will hurt my feelings again :( Baylan is like the mountain. He's calm, he's steady and the darkness erodes him slowly. He thinks he's successfully toeing the line with the dark side, but his faults are most evident in Shin's training. She is like a hurricane. The Force rips through her, chaotic and volatile and her control is iron yet brittle. She hasn't known inner peace a day in her life. She just taught herself restraint in the sense that she suppresses her power until she needs it to plow through her enemies. She will fall far more quickly than her master. Baylan's teachings follow the Jedi's to an extent but once the darkness is let in, those lessons become skewed and contradicted, and Shin is a mess because of it, only mirroring her master's control on the surface. Baylan isn't the worst teacher but he is not a good one. While Shin loves and trusts Baylan, she is getting tired and frustrated following his mysterious whispers of legends to an end he never explains clearly. And she is afraid.

ANYWAY, once Shin’s done sulking, one of these days her and Sabine are gonna have a genuine conversation or two and maybe agree to an actually friendly sparring match in which they agree to not just blindly pulverize each other. They take breaks and drink water and tend to their wounds like adults. And Sabine is like you know, we could just. Hang out. As wolves at least. It would suck sooo much less if you'd come play with me as a wolf xoxo. They slowly transition into a more definitive Truce.

Shin does start hanging out in the rec room as a wolf. Sabine still isn't volunteering info on the wolf magic but she does talk about what its like being wolfwalker in general. They tussel and chase each other around, often getting too rough but also loud enough that someone will come yell at them to stfu before they really hurt each other. It's much easier to take naps as wolves too after they've had a chance to burn some energy which makes the entire ship more peaceful.

However, you can't just be the first vessel in centuries to cross between galaxies and not have some kind of disaster right? Well it turns out the strange shapes out the viewport were not hallucinations. The Sion is essentially traveling through the cosmic deep ocean and there are bigger, older things than even the Purrgil out there. Nothing has an interest in attacking the Sion, but at some point something very large drifts close enough to jolt the Sion off course and shorts out the entire system. This ends up forcing them to drop out of hyperspace in the middle of absolute fucking nowhere.

It takes a few days to get the ship running again and recalculate the jump. And here's where Sabine gets to be a hero and earn some respect around here, bc most of their mechanics are droids which also shorted out and lost power. Seeing as they are at risk of losing life support, they let Sabine help with repairs and turns out she's one of the best mechanics on board, even considering the newer technology she doesn't have as much experience with. This also allows her to get more familar with the ship and find the best places to hide out when she eventually makes her escape, while simultaneously giving the crew more reason to let their guard down on her. Including Shin.

That first loss of power is the worst but there are several more blackouts along the way. Human Sabine and Shin are almost getting along now. They still don't like each other but they are hooking up (it does not fix them), and playing card games by flashlight and truth or dare. Maybe Shin even scrounges up some art supplies for Bean. Now she can pass the time hiding sharpie dicks all over the place. They are almost friends by the time there are three days left in the journey and Sabine is preparing to make her move.

Baylan was probably the one to initiate letting Sabine have her lightsaber to sparr occasionally. He wanted to test her metal as well. I think it would be interesting if they sparred a couple times. Baylan is much more chivalrous than Shin and also goes into teacher mode about sword fighting. Sabine isn't a novice anymore but he's still far more experienced. Shin is like no no no we are not adopting her Dad NO-

So anyway escape day comes, Sabine almost cronches Baylan to death, and Shin is beyond angry. Mostly at herself for letting her guard down enough to allow this to happen, she didn't really expect Sabine to not pull something like this in the end right? It's stupid to feel betrayed when it was so inevitable. She is still 100% gonna take it out on Sabine though, especially for almost killing her master.

Despite the escape attempt, Thrawn lets Sabine go as he does in the show, in the hope that she'll lead them to Ezra’s human body. He figures if anyone could find him, it would be a fellow wolfwalker who considers him dear enough to risk the fate of her entire galaxy. Everyone else is like you're just letting her go?? After all that??? And Thrawn's just like lol what did you expect from her? That's Sabine Wren. They probably do attempt to scan the ship for sabotage but it's so huge and her kyber bomb is so small and rudimentary that they don't find it.

At this point, Sabine is run utterly ragged. Bedraggled even. Having not slept in 2 days,(no room to wolf in the Sion's walls so she just had to stay awake 💀) suffered a heart attack at Baylan's hand, and got beat up by WolfShin again. She's visibly about to collapse and Thrawn's probably like 'do you...want to spend the night before you go? And a medic?' He knows he's most likely sending her to perish in the wilderness anyway, but was hoping to give her at least a chance at finding human Ezra for them. Sabine says hell no I'm getting out of here before you change your mind.

She rides until she actually does collapse, hides her body as best she can and continues as a wolf. She figures they let her go for a reason, and plans to run in erratic circles all night every night to hopefully throw them off, only later investigating any clues she finds as human for a few sporadic hours in the day. Thrawn does send Shin to track her at a distance. If she happens to find the trail of Wolf!Ezra first, kill her. This hunt through the wild will go on for several days at least, before there's any sign of Ezra.

[jessicas-pi]

So the Ahsoka show (and a dream I had last night) gave me an idea. Imagine: AU where in Chapter 11 of The Mandalorian, Bo-Katan tells Din to go to Ahsoka... but also says that if Ahsoka won't help, then he should try finding her apprentice, Sabine Wren, on Lothal.

So after Ahsoka refuses to train Grogu, Din goes to Lothal before he tries Tython, which is therefore where everything with the Darktroopers goes down, which means that (a) Sabine is able to give Hera a heads up that the Empire is Doing Something, and (b) Sabine ends up inadvertently roped into the events of the rest of Mando S2. The Grogu rescue mission sort of helps her feel better---at least to feel like she's doing something. Din, meanwhile, sees someone just like him, who needs to keep busy to keep her mind off her trauma, so he decides to call her up for a little "help" whenever he feasibly can claim he needs it, or for some Jedi Training™ with Grogu (who didn't go with Luke, due to no trip to Tython and no seeing stone), or whatever excuse he can make up, which ends with Sabine getting pulled into BoBF and Mando S3, too.

Highlights include:

Din & Sabine: *win the fight with Moff Gideon together* Sabine: *takes the Darksaber from him, just to disarm him* Sabine: WAIT ACTUALLY NOPE NEVER MIND *throws the Darksaber as far as she can & refuses to pick it up again*

Sabine: You want ME to teach your kid? Din: Yes. Sabine: You do realize that I can't use the Force? Din: Yes. Sabine: And that my master stopped training me because I wasn't good enough? Din: Yes. Sabine: And that I have absolutely nothing to teach him? Din: Yes. Sabine: ...nothing I say is going to deter you, is it? Din: No.

Sabine: I just... feel... lost. Boba: Well, you could always work for me on Tatooine. Fennec: Have you ever considered an assassin business partnership? Bo-Katan: It's gonna take me a loooooooong time for me to get over you winning the Darksaber again, but you are my best friend's daughter, so if you choose to, you may come with me. Greef Karga: The Nevarro school could use an art teacher, you know. The Armorer: You are always welcome to take the Creed and join our covert. Din: How do you feel about being adopted? [later] Ahsoka, to Hera: Should we be concerned about the number of questionable figures trying to take in Sabine? Hera, having Maul flashbacks: Trust me. It could be a lot worse.

Sabine: You need to go to the Living Waters? Yeah I know where that is, I can take you. Din: That's a relief. Otherwise I was going to go ask Bo-Katan about them. Sabine: Oh? Let's ask her anyway. I'm totally down to bother Bo-Katan. Any time, any day. Kalevala HERE WE COME-

Din: While I appreciate your modifications to IG-12, Sabine, I'm not so sure about the words you've added. Grogu, delightedly smacking his new button: KRIFF. KRIFF. KRIFF. KRIFF. KRIFF.

Din: You had me at 'battle droids.' Sabine, giggling: yOu HaD mE aT 'BaTtLe DrOiDs'

Sabine, watching Din make his 'your song is not yet written' speech: This is sooo much better than the holodramas. Axe Wolves, side-eyeing her: You don't get out much, do you? Sabine: Nope. Want some popcorn?

.....ANYWAY, my point is, Sabine gets dragged into All The Mandoverse Shenanigans. Which is pretty funny on its own, right? But it gets better.

Because it just so happens that Din is on Lothal with Grogu when Ahsoka shows up with the map. and he kinda just....gets pulled along for the ride. So then HE'S in the AHSOKA show, mostly just trying to make sure Sabine doesn't do anything crazy, following her when she does it anyway, and being confused about Everything. Which lends itself to additional hilarity--

Din: Nightsisters? I heard they were witches. Ahsoka: They are. Din, internally: Oh my manda, I finally KNEW something!

Din: The evil Jedi are chasing us! Sabine: They're not Jedi! Din: They're not? But they have laser swords like you! Ahsoka: There's still a difference! Din: What difference? Ahsoka: Jedi use the Light side! These are Dark side users! Din: There are different sides of your sorcery??

[Sabine and Ezra reunite] Din: I'm so glad you finally found your husband, Sabine. Sabine: Ezra: Din: The crabs: *start gossiping* Sabine: He's... he's not my... husband... Din, confused: But you've clearly been living the Mandalorian marriage vows? One when together, one when apart, sharing all... Sabine: Yeah, no, that's- that's just coincidence. Din: Hold on. You live in his house, and you keep all his things, and you refuse to leave Lothal for more than a week or two at a time because it makes you miss him too much- Sabine: *makes stop talking gesture* Din: -and you gaze lovingly at the enormous mural you've painted of him, and you left everything behind the second you knew you had a chance to save him, and as far as I can tell, you've been utterly devoted to him since the moment he disappeared ten years ago- Sabine: *stop talking gestures intensify* Ezra: Wait, Sabine, is this true? Din: -and you're telling me you two aren't married? Sabine:

[jedi-nurse]

So, I have been doing a lot of thinking about Ahsoka lately while we are in a lull of SW content. Specifically Sabine’s characterization in episode one when she leaves the Liberation of Lothal celebration.

I actually think she is totally valid for leaving. Yes she's 30 yrs old and maybe she's being childish but as she tells Ryder later in the episode: not everybody was there and let's be honest, they all could have been. (Just not the person that mattered the most). This event is a reminder of possibly one of the worst days of her life and none of the people important to her (that can show up) are there.

Hera: she's a general, she could easily take a few hours to go and be with Sabine for this day. It's the 10th or 11th anniversary and she knows what Ezra's disappearance has done to her. Hera also helped with the Liberation so she could have even pulled strings to go to it that way. Yes Morgan escaped but it didn't seem like the NR was all that concerned.

Zeb: similar to Hera I assume there was nothing so pressing that he couldn't take some time to go to the event. Training recruits can wait a couple days.

Ahsoka: I don't even know where to begin with her but even though her and Sabine were on bad terms she could have gone to be there to support her. She knew what Ezra's disappearance did to Sabine, probably a lot more than some people considering they trained together.

Also, these people know Sabine has abandonment issues from her past so why wouldn't they be there too support her? Especially when the person who is most important to her isn't there- Ezra.

I think her comment to Ryder about not everyone being there and then later her yelling at the howler about abandoning her show how deeply she is affected by people in her life leaving her, whether intentional or not.

That's why Ezra left her that seperate message, to remind her that he wasn't abandoning her. He just had to do the hard thing and follow the will of the Force.

TLDR: Hera, Zeb, and even Ahsoka should have been at the Lothal celebration and Sabine leaving was an action I support.

**I have no idea if any of these ramblings make sense but it's been rattling in my brain all day**

[audreyscribes]

PJO ROMAN DEMIGOD HEADCANONS: ⚔ BELLONA: GODDESS OF WAR, DESTRUCTION, DEVASTATION, CONTROLLER OF THE POLICY OF FOREIGN WARFARE 🛡

Author's Note: Alright, here's the first full Roman God and demigod! Bellona was a wild to read. There's a lot about her but also not? Like there wasn't much a lot of backstory weight behind her and Bellona was often conflated with a Greek god, Enyo, and there's a both wild and carnage side to Bellona, but also respect and honour. Hopefully I did it justice though. ROMAN DEMIGODS H/CS MASTERLIST LINKS: [TUMBLR] // [AO3]

Apart from Mars, Bellona is the next god to be worshipped at Camp Jupiter; so you’re equally respected alongside Bellona and are expected to embody the aspects of your mother and bring glory to Camp Jupiter with her skills and ferocity.

Just as much as you bring destruction and violence at the end, you bring peace when you end it; because at the end of war, there is peace; regardless of its outcome. Like Mars said, if there is only war, it's only mindlessly killing and there is no glory in that.

Like many other children of warfare, you are adept at fighting, the weapon in your hand an extension of yourself, and it only grows more fluidly and instinctually in your hands with time put into your skill. Your adeption at your weapon doesn’t necessarily have to be a blade, but can be your words and skill as well, because in war there are many methods and strategies in war.

Speaking of warfare, with Bellona being a patron of foreign warfare, you may have ties with other countries and adopt your birth country or home country’s style of warfare, battling, martial art style into your own. If not, you have a particular pull towards a country or style of warfare and become very knowledgeable in it. While in the Legion and Camp Jupiter tells you to conform with their Roman values and fighting style, at the soonest opportunity to being able to break formation and take on an individualistic maneuver, you are more deadly than before. Your limitation is being forced to move with your fellow Roman soldiers in order to maintain unity and harmony as you march towards the battlefield.

On the other hand, being a child of the patron of foreign warfare also extends to languages. You have a better grasp on languages that are outside of your birth language(s) so being multilingual is almost natural to you. The multilingualism is usually a good indication of foreign warfare tactics that I stated above, and vise-versa. 

Bellona was identified with the Greek Goddess Enyo, who is the goddess of and/or personified spirited of war. With Enyo, who followed the lead of Ares, she carried the turmoil of shameless hatred; bringing strife onto the battlefield. You too are like that once you are put on the battlefield. When you are no longer held back or behind the limits of strict values of Roman soldiers, you raze through your enemies, striking fear in your fellow soldiers but also courage to them as you are on their side. This is maybe why the children of Bellona are few and those who do exist, often take upon status of leadership and management. You are an expert in warfare and how to bring total destruction, thus you are in the right place to prevent such occurrences to your fellow Romans.

Bellona was also identified with the Sabine goddess of War, Nerio, who was the personification of Valor. This translates to you as well. Even if you are anxious and maybe shy, you honour Bellona by choosing to fight; whether it’s agony, pain, danger, uncertainty, or intimidation. While Valor is often conflated with courage or bravery in physical battle, being a child of Bellona doesn’t constrain you to this. It can be a mental battle, and Bellona is proud of you regardless. So even having mortal courage to act rightfully in the face of opposition, shame, scandal, discouragement, or personal loss, you still display the virtue of valour.

Being a child of Bellona also allows you to give a rousing and encouraging speech to others, as you can ignite the spark of encouragement in others, building their courage up like a fire.  This is very useful not only in battle, but in everyday life. You also make an excellent ambassador or spokesperson, speaking for profit or other interests. Guess that’s how Reyna became a great praetor.

I feel like when Reyna is made aware of your existence there’s a sense of scrutiny for Bellona’s favour and attention is rare outside of the field of war. Reyna also comes from a long line of those who were favoured by Bellona, so it is her responsibility to know you but also it is a relief she can find another sibling in you; however close or distant your relationship is. 

[flightfoot]

got any fic focusing on marinette's trauma? all i can find are adrien trama fics

That makes sense. All Hawk Moth related trauma is stuff that Adrien would also have, and who it would be ten times worse for. Still, I'll see what I can do. I'm gonna stick to ones where the trauma Marinette suffers is derived at least somewhat from canon, and not like, from being captured and tortured, or having a fatal illness, or her mom dying, or anything like that. I'm assuming you want ones that are at least close-ish to canon, instead of just "Marinette angst" fics.

---

A Small but Stubborn Fire by @cardiac-agreste

What if you were the parent of a teenage superhero, but didn't know they were? All you know is the nightmares, the panic attacks, and the bruises. She's missing school, she's disappearing on you, and she's not telling you anything. So you assume the worst: Assault. Depression. A permanent rift in the family. And what do you do when you realize you weren't thinking dark enough? Because your fourteen-year old daughter is the hero who flirts with death on the nightly news. -- Come inside and read about one mother's struggles to raise her daughter in a dangerous world while avoiding the mistakes her own mother made with her.

This is a more serious take on the consequences of Hawk Moth's war on Paris, with actual bloody, painful deaths as a consequence of many akumas, and Parisians developing PTSD because of what they've gone through. Ladybug can fix all the physical scars, but not the mental ones, including her own.

I love the focus on Sabine here. She's not just presented as being a mom - though of course that IS an important role she has. But she's explored as a character in her own right, one with a lot of emotional baggage as a result of her abusive mother, and trying to not fall into her mistakes, but sometimes doing so anyway out of fear for Marinette's safety. She's a really fleshed out, humanly flawed character, sometimes admitting that she would do something selfish if it means protecting the people she cares most about, like her daughter, even if its at others expense. She grows and changes a lot throughout the course of the story, her perspective on many matters changing multiple times as a result of getting new information or seeing the consequences of her previous approaches, and adjusting as a result.

If you want a fic that more realistically explores the dark consequences of Miraculous's setting, that fleshes out Sabine, or just develops a character in a complex way, then I highly recommend you check "A Small but Stubborn Fire" out!

---

In Pursuit of the Uneatable by @nemaliwrites

Who do you trust when your own reflection becomes a stranger? In a Paris where Lila weaves tales that blind the city, Marinette stands accused, isolated. Her parents' trust is shattered, her friends distant, and in battle, illusions blur the line between ally and enemy. As the shadows and uncertainty threaten to close in, Marinette finds herself turning to the last person who claims to be on her side: a boy in a white mask who calls himself a fox hunter.

THIS IS NOT A BASHING FIC. Well, Lila bashing, I guess, but even then she gets a lot more consideration than usual. Anyway, there's no animosity towards Marinette's friends and family here. Instead, the fic has more of this melancholy, contemplative tone, with Marinette feeling boxed in by Lila, and trying to figure out how to navigate her circumstances, especially being around Lila. Even when there isn't any particular threat against her, just having Lila around, knowing that she could pull something else to make Marinette's life worse, and thinking that there's no way to counter her, that she always wins... you can feel how suffocating it is. But she does have a way out, a mysterious boy who she's seen around, who completely has her back as far as Lila's concerned... but she might not want him to, to the extent that he goes.

By the way, this IS a Lovesquare fic, the thing with the boy... well, that'll make sense once you read the fic. But it's not romantic, I can tell you that.

Anyway, it's this interesting psychological, low-key sort of fic. If you want a look at the more emotional consequences of Lila's brand of bullying and isolation WITHOUT any sort of demonization or bashing towards anyone else, but just exploring the effects on Marinette and how to respond to it, then this fic is worth a look.

Oh, also, this is rated M, though I'm honestly not sure why. Marinette's not in the best headspace, but it's not a "this isn't appropriate for teens" headspace, there's nothing sexual, and the most that is present in the story as far as violence and gore goes are some bruises that were acquired under indeterminate (though probably abusive) circumstances, and the breaking of an arm and being bludgeoned in the head, and neither of them are described particularly graphically. So long as you're 13+, this fic's probably fine.

---

Stop Time by @liiinerle

— she put her hand on the page, blocking it so the words wouldn’t scream so loudly at her. They had screamed more than enough already. Gritting her teeth, she pulled her fingers together, crumpling the paper slightly — just enough that it didn’t look so pristine and mocking. It needed to be full of despair, in every possible way. “Marinette —” started Mullo. “No! Never again. Marinette is… gone, forever.” She let go of the paper. Now it lay alone in the light, as the last thing she could ever tell them. That she loved them, that she’d miss them, that she would never talk to them again. A suicide note. Of sorts. ----- Fu accidentally names Marinette as the new guardian, and not Ladybug. She's forced to fake her own death and go into hiding in order to get away from Hawk Moth. She finds a hiding spot in the Louvre, but there she's forced to face the effects of her going away by a very unexpected source: her friend Alix.

Definitely mind the tags on this one! But if it ain't triggering to you, then I highly recommend reading it. You can really feel Marinette's struggles here, with basically making herself homeless, unable to reach out to her friends and family, needing to steal just to feed herself and the kwamis, and then dealing with everyone in her life grieving... and then moving on. Except for a few people who don't...

It's just... it's really good, really heart-wrenching.

---

Bend the World Around It by @kasienda

“Tell me it was real." She can’t look at him. She can barely stand the pain in his voice. She definitely can’t face it. “It wasn’t.” He shakes his head, and turns to her - his eyes swirling in their intensity. “That’s not what I meant and you know it. Tell me that you were there. We were there together, having the same dream.” She squeezes her eyes shut. She wants to lie to him. She needs to lie to him. But she can’t. Lying would be like it never happened. But it did happen. And if it’s all they get to have, she wants him to know it. “I think we were having the same dream,” she whispers, unable to meet his eyes.

So this is an adorable Jubilation aftermath fic, with Ladybug and Chat Noir both mourning the loss of what only they remember, of a dream that never was. And them deciding that screw it, it may not have been real to anyone else, but it was real to them. They remember those years together, and they want to live together, if only during the times when they can afford to be missing from home. They remember being happily married, and crave that life.

---

I (Wish I) Knew You by @buggachat

University has been hard on Marinette. Making new friends and maintaining her grades is a lot easier said than done when she has to disappear at odd times to fight akumas. She's struggling, and with Alya away with family and Adrien painfully out of reach, she's never felt lonelier.

If only she could talk to someone who really understood her struggles... but it's not like Chat Noir would know anything about loneliness. Right?

Nice aged-up Ladynoir fic here! Marinette’s struggling with losing friends and lovers because of her flakiness due to her superhero activities, until at last she breaks down. Thankfully, Chat Noir’s there at least - and it soon turns out he’s got problems of his own that he’s been hiding.

There’s some fluff and angst, it’s mostly just the two of them navigating life, dealing with their feelings and talking things out.

---

Accidents Are Also Miracles by @liiinerle

After a few turbulent days where four new people discover her secret identity, Marinette loses faith in her ability to keep the secret hidden. Wracked with doubts and insecurities, she pleads with Alya to take over as Scarabella, but she still can't let those worries go. Especially not once Monarch starts taking a particular, and personal, interest in her.

Along the way, she also starts to date Kagami, and has to deal with changing feelings about herself, Adrien, Alya, Kagami, and the idea of being Ladybug. At the same time, Alya works to uncover Monarch's secret identity, while Kagami struggles against a controlling parent, and a girlfriend who seems bent on destroying herself - with or without Monarch's involvement.

Fantastic Marigami fic here! You’ve got three major POVs in this fic: Marinette, Kagami, and to my delight, Alya. I loved getting to see Alya cope with taking over as Scarabella especially.

But of course, this fic centers more around Marinette and Kagami, with Marinette struggling with Monarch targeting her, and Kagami struggling against her abusive parent, as well as both of them trying to navigate their relationship together when they know that not everyone will approve. 

There’s also some other plots going on in here, like Sabrina breaking away from Chloe and becoming more independent (and closer to Adrien in fact), as well as a Lila takedown plot, though thankfully not one that involves demonizing other characters. While there are conversations about people believing Lila and siding with her, no one’s actually attacked for it except for Lila herself.

Oh yeah, and while this fic may not have much focus on Adrien, he’s still treated fairly and with respect, even when he messes up. He can make mistakes, but people understand where he’s coming from, and are still kind to him and want things to be okay, and to help him escape his abusive circumstances.

[ana-cantskywalker]

Mandatory Sabezra hype post because some of us are struggling after the premiere

Spoilers for Ahsoka below the cut

So, I know a lot of us are a bit down after the 'like a sister' line but do not get it in your mind that this is it and the ship has sunk.

Consider this, you are Ezra, you are about to do something very scary and you know you may never see your family again. You want to leave a separate message for the girl you have been in love with since you were 14 to let her know how much she means to you, but you also know that she has said several times how she does not reciprocate. If you tell her how you feel, in what might be the last thing you ever get to say to her, it would make it awkward for her if she never feels the same, so you panic and settle for the next best thing.

Also, his body language was soo awkward during that part specifically, like he didn't really believe what he was saying, and Sabine scoffed like she didn't believe it either.

There is also A LOT of subtext implying that she cares a lot deeper for him than just as a brother. I mean is dripping off of both episodes. Even if she is still in denial, her actions point to her almost definitely having deeper feelings. Ten years is a lot of time for feelings to changed/ be realized.

I am more worried about what their reunion will be like than a hologram that is a decade old.

All of this to say, DO NOT LOSE HOPE. We are still sailing a ship.

[arisu-artnfics]

“A trip to Paris” 6

Notes: 

Chapter: 6/12 Previous Next (First). Versión en Español

Also on:     A03 || FF || DeviantArt || Facebook.

Chapter 6: “Introducing akumas”

Marinette shook off her embarrassment, there would be time to freak out about that later, right now, she had a job to do.

“Oh, no!” Marinette cried, checking her phone. “There is an akuma close by!” She turned to her new friends–or, rather, temporary friends… she knew they were just here on holidays. “You should stay here, it will be safe.”

“Safe from what? What’s an akuma?” asked Jazz. She didn’t remember reading anything about that, and she had done a lot of research before coming. 

“Oh, um, well an akuma is a person…” Marinette began. Danny raised an eyebrow. She hadn’t planned to have to explain this today, and she was doing a poor job of it. “Well, a possessed person—” 

“Wait, you mean like overshadowed?” Sam asked what all three Amity Parkers were thinking. She didn’t think his ghost sense had gone off, but they couldn’t be too careful. 

“Over– what?” asked Marinette, confused, this was not an English word she knew. She shook her head, “No, I don’t think so… it’s more like control by, as if someone else brainwashed them.” Then she remembered that “possessed” could mean something totally different to them than it did to her.

“That’s horrible,” Jazz commented with a sympathetic look. Knowing that it was done by one human to another made it worse in her book.

“It is, that’s why it is better to stay inside, and let Ladybug and Chat Noir do their job. They will defeat it, don’t worry!” said Marinette. Her smile was a bit too wide, stretched thin. Ladybug would save the day, but first she needed to leave and transform into Ladybug. She just had to figure out how to slip away from them. 

“Marinette is right,” said Sabine. “Our store safety policy includes customers in these cases of emergencies. Please stay inside of the store.” Her accent was stronger than Marinette’s but they could understand her English well enough. 

“Okay... ” said Danny hesitantly. He didn’t think that he could do much against an akuma. As far as he knew they were just people, mind controlled people but still people, as wrong as that sounded. And although it may be killing him inside to know more about it so he could at least try to help, with Jazz and Sam and even the Parisians so close by, he wasn’t about to go ghost.  

“Good,” said Tom, nodding approvingly. He never liked when Alya went to record the battles and he liked it even less when his daughter took the risk too. Although normally Marinette was trying to stop Alya. 

Another explosion shook the bakery. The pastries bounced in their displays and some of them piled up at the edge of the containers. Things were falling off shelves, everything was out of place. Everyone in the bakery ran for cover, and Marinette took the opportunity to escape and 'hide' in the house rather than the store. 

She didn't lose any more time, quickly transforming into Ladybug and swinging out through a window. With the help of her trusty yo–yo she made her way to the roof. Once there, she spotted Chat Noir, who was already watching the villain and trying to understand the situation.

Meanwhile, inside the bakery, Danny was trying to see what was going on from a window since the attack wasn’t that far away. Sam stood next to him, a gentle hand on his shoulder to keep him calm. Even though he didn't even know if he could do something against an “akuma,” he was sure there was still some way he could help. 

Jazz was watching her little brother from further in the store, she could tell that he was itching to get out there and help, that was just his nature. She knew her little brother, if things got bad enough, he would try his best to help, even if that meant breaking his promise. 

The fight had gotten even closer to the bakery and that wasn't helping Danny’s stress, he knew he could try to help, but didn't want to break his promise or expose himself.

Then when nobody was expecting it, the battle was over. As fast as it had started, it ended. 

As soon as Ladybug found Chat Noir, he told her what he’d seen and she knew exactly what to do. The akuma was a demolition contractor who got fired for unsafe practices. His boss said he was using too many explosions, but he had a plan, it wasn't his fault that the higher ups didn't like it. He was throwing bombs all over the city, destroying lots of buildings, when Ladybug and Chat Noir found him. Using their awesome teamwork, the pair of heroes quickly found the akuma hidden in a remote detonator and put a stop to his rampage. Then Ladybug launched her miraculous cure and everything went back to normal.

Back in the bakery, Tom and Sabine were smiling at the foreigners’ shocked faces. They had become so used to akuma attacks that it was almost normal to them. It was nice to be reminded of how magical it all really was.

Danny, Sam, and Jazz were more than a little surprised when everything suddenly went back as good as new, the fallen pastries were back on the shelves, toppled chairs were set to rights, and they could see previously damaged buildings from the window with not a scratch on them. It was like the akuma had never even happened. 

It wasn't long until Marinette was back downstairs and she was just as amused by their shock as her parents. The three Parisians explained to their guests that it was always like that for them. An akuma would destroy almost everything in their way, and then Ladybug with her Miraculous Magic would restore it all. Good as new! 

Danny silently wished that was something he could do back home, maybe then people wouldn’t blame him for all the property damage. 

It was at that moment that someone's stomach growled and the Amity Park kids suddenly realised how hungry they were.

“Wow, is it really that late?” Danny wondered aloud. He checked the time on his phone; even without a local service provider, the time was still correct.

“You're always thinking with your stomach, aren’t you?” said Sam. She laughed and gave him a teasing smile. Even though she was also hungry, she wasn’t going to admit it. The hours had really flown by. 

“Let’s go and find something to eat, it’s about time for lunch,” Jazz suggested. She looked around at the Dupain–Cheng family, “Marinette, thank you for all the tips,” she held up the notebook where she’d written everything down, “and thank you, Sabine and Tom, for letting us stay here during the akuma attack. We’ve never seen anything like that before!”

“You are very welcome!” replied Marinette with a big smile. She was happy to know that everything was coming up good for the foreigners. 

“Glad to know that our daughter has helped you kids that much! Have fun in your holidays and please come back!” said Sabine, she wrapped an arm around her husband and the two smiled proudly at the kids.

“We will!” said Jazz, grinning back. It was a nice place, and they could come back for sweets any time during their stay. 

And so, just like that, Jazz, Danny, and Sam waved goodbye to their new friends and headed out into the Parisian sunshine once again. They had passed by some stores and restaurants earlier and Marinette had told them where they could have lunch at a very good price. The restaurant that they ended up going to wasn't the cheapest that they saw, but at least it was on budget for the day. 

Just when they were finishing lunch, their Fenton Phones rang. It was Jack and Maddie calling to check on them because they had learned about the akuma attack. They knew the kids could handle themselves in dangerous situations, but they still worried. Plus, their curiosity was piqued. 

Once the adults finished peppering them with questions, the kids took turns telling them about what happened, Danny explained that no, he didn’t use his powers, and no, he had no clue what that was, and yes, they were all good. Then Jazz took over the story and explained how and why they ended up hiding in a bakery of all places. Sam completed the explanation, saying that it seems to be like magic of some kind, at least that’s what the Parisians believed.   

Jack and Maddie were glad to hear that the kids were okay and hadn’t gotten into any serious trouble. It was enough of a pain dealing with insurance back home, they really didn’t want to do it here. As far as the possibility of magic, the scientific side of them wanted to deny its existence, but they couldn’t explain what would fix all the damage that easily. 

Danny confessed his wish that they had a magic fix back home, and to that, everyone agreed. Then he suggested that maybe next time another akuma attack happens, he could just observe from a closer distance than today.

That made everyone ask if he was planning to transform, to which he responded yes, but just that. No other powers, except maybe invisibility. It would be a stealth mission, reconnaissance. He didn’t want people to give himself away or cause people to panic even more. 

They all talked it over and decided that maybe, just maybe, it would be okay, just this once. So they could see exactly what was going on here. The rest promised to stay far away. The local heroes seemed more than capable of dealing with those akumas, after all. They had just witnessed that practically firsthand, or learned on the local news – even though Jack and Maddie couldn't understand what the reporter was saying, they could guess, and then a quick check online using the hotel wifi confirmed their observations. 

With their plan in relation to akumas now made, the three teens continued exploring the city. Then, later, they met the rest of Team Phantom –except for Tucker, Valerie, and Dani, of course– back at the hotel to relax and try to call home. It was weird to think about how many hours difference there was –damn time zones– and knowing they would need to wait until late afternoon or evening before they could talk to anyone back in Amity. Thankfully, Mr. Gray answered after just a few rings and they were able to check in with him, easing some of their anxiety. 

The two girls were doing all right, Danny talked with Dani and asked her how she was doing and if she'd had any ghostly problems. Dani told him that he was worrying way too much and he should just relax– he was on holidays and that far away for a reason. 

Then when they spoke with Valerie, she told Sam and Danny that she had heard the mayor was planning a little ‘meeting’ overseas. They pressed her for more details, and she said that Tucker was obviously planning a trip to Paris himself. He had used his power as mayor, in one way or another to make it happen. The public had been hounding the local government for more information about Amity Park, and until now, Tucker had declined a press tour. Recently though, rumours had spread that he'd accepted an invitation from the mayor of Paris. What an incredibly well-planned coincidence! The two teens laughed at their best friend’s antics, but couldn’t be happier. Only Tucker would manage to plan a special meeting halfway across the world just to come hang out with them. 

Jack and Maddie weren't too happy with his idea, but couldn’t really say much knowing that the old mayor did much worse than that. Tucker was also still a kid, and he wasn’t going to be mayor forever. The next elections were coming up soon and would decide the next mayor, after all. 

Hearing news from Amity lent some normalcy to their routine and they talked for quite a while, before saying goodbye. Even though they had only been gone a day, there was already a lot to tell each other.

While the kids were talking, Maddie and Jack looked up local attractions and found that a science exposition was being held not far from their hotel and would be opening the next day. Danny and Jazz expressed their surprise when they learned it wasn’t some sort of ghost convention, to which their parents sheepishly confessed that it was related to ghost studies… in a way. After all, people all over the world were talking about ghosts and learning about them now. 

Of course, the elder Fentons weren’t about to miss the opportunity to talk about ghosts with a whole new city of people that hadn’t already heard all of their theories. They did agree that they were going to just listen to the presentations and such though, even though they weren’t sure how much of it they would understand, it likely being in French and all. 

Just as his parents promised to try to keep a low profile at the convention, Danny once again promised to keep Phantom's presence in Paris a secret, even while invisibly spying on the local heroes. He hadn't really been around other heroes and he was curious about their powers. They were all very intrigued by what they could learn from them and considering that maybe they could use the knowledge later on, it was worth the risk. The others were calling it spying because that was basically what it was, even though Danny refused to call it that. 

Once all were in agreement as to how they would conduct themselves while gathering information during their stay they decided to get back in the vacation mindset. Jack and Maddie prepared themselves for their science exposition, while the kids planned their next outing. The Eiffel Tower was one of the most popular tourist attractions in Paris after all and it was high time they went to check it out. Thanks to Marinette’s help, they, or, more specifically, Jazz, were able to quickly look through the bus schedule and find the best time to visit when it wouldn’t be as crowded. Once Jazz had fully planned out their day, from how and when to get to the Eiffel Tower and then what to do afterwards, she called it a night.

After Jazz went to bed, Danny and Sam decided to look into getting their phones on the Paris cellular network. They couldn't keep using the Fenton Phones for all of their communication. Sam took the lead in setting that up, since she had experience doing that sort of thing before, but Danny was the one to suggest that they still used the Fenton Phones to communicate with Amity Park, since it would be cheaper than international roaming. In no time at all, Sam managed to help Danny and the rest of the Fenton family to get a temporary local line. Jack and Maddie were very grateful to Sam for helping them with that, since they had been putting it off for “later.” Using the Fenton Phones had been working for them so far, so they might have never gotten around to it.

And so, with a very productive first day in Paris under their belts, they called it a night. It was getting late after all. 

Over the next few days, Jack and Maddie enjoyed their convention, if nothing else, at least they learned the French word for “ghost,” and the kids took turns choosing which tourist attraction to visit. They would only be there for two weeks, so everyone wanted to make the most of their time in the City of Lights. In addition to the most popular locations, they also found some quieter places frequented by the locals that they all could enjoy. Before they knew it, the day for Tucker to join them was just around the corner.   

“So,” Jazz commented, “Tucker finally said that the official reason he’s coming is for him to supposedly speak at a bunch of conferences about the ghosts from Amity.”  

The kids were sitting at the park that afternoon, just enjoying the beautiful day.  

“Yeah. We finally managed to get ahold of him, and it’s like Valerie said, he was supposed to do an online, long distance conference… thing. But you know Tuck, he managed to change it so that he could come to Paris personally.” Danny shrugged. “Although, I also think that he mentioned once that he had a few different cities around the world trying to book him. So, why, Paris? Who knows. Probably just because we’re here.” he shrugged again.

“Why am I not surprised? You guys have always been good at playing the system, haven’t you?” said Jazz. She, like the rest, had suspected that to be the case, but hearing Danny say it out loud just confirmed it. At least Tucker wasn’t really abusing his power… that much. They had invited him, after all.

“Well, it’s Tuck, what do you expect?” said Sam with a shrug. She wasn't going to deny the obvious.

“Valerie and Dani said he’s arriving tomorrow, right?” asked Jazz. They had managed to talk with the girls back home the day before; but it was more Danny asking about Amity and confirming the lack of ghosts than anything else. She hoped, for Danny’s sake, that things stayed okay over there. 

“And I believe that he is staying in the same hotel as us, it seems like the ‘Grand Paris’ always receives important people… ” Danny added, recalling the details of his friend's travel plans. Even though, now that he thought about it, Tucker probably shouldn’t have shared those details with anybody other than his parents, who were coming too. It could potentially be a security risk.

“Yeah, he’s staying in the presidential suite, or whatever it’s called,” continued Sam. She had been the one to confirm the information, but didn’t care enough to remember the name of the room. The rooms had numbers, after all, and that was the important part.

“So I’m guessing you two will want to see him as soon as he gets here, right? The three of you will probably want to catch up tomorrow...” said Jazz. She already knew that Danny and Sam would jump at that opportunity to spend time with their best friend. Even though she was with them and they were having a good time, she still felt a bit awkward, a bit like an outsider.

“Probably…” Danny hummed, half listening. He was watching a group of children playing in the distance and listening to the pigeons coo. He was very much enjoying the holidays so far. As he should.  

“Hey Jazz, you know even though we don’t mind your company, you could go do your own things, too,” said Sam. “You don’t need to stay with us.” She didn’t mind the other girl, but she also knew that Jazz would probably like to do some other normal teen stuff, without her little brother and his girlfriend tagging along. Like maybe check some of the local universities or something, even though she would never want to study that far from Amity. Honestly, Sam was starting to feel a bit odd being around Jazz when they weren’t battling some kind of danger.   

“Oh no, it’s all right! I have the key card for the room, so we all need to stick together… ” replied Jazz. She was the oldest and therefore the one entrusted to keep track of their copy of it. She knew that Sam didn’t mean anything by it, but none of them were dumb enough to miss the awkward feeling between them. 

“Yeah, but you know I don’t necessarily need a key...” said Danny, obviously pointing out his ghostly abilities. He was still oblivious to the mounting tension around him. 

“True, but remember: no powers, little bro. Plus mom and dad trusted me to look after you two, and even though you don’t need it, that doesn’t mean I should just leave you guys! What if you got lost? Or went to the wrong room?” Jazz pointed out. With their limited communication here, getting lost wasn't something to play around with. That thought made her feel better about being there for them, even when they didn’t necessarily need her. 

“All right, all right...” Danny raised his hands in surrender. He had finally noticed how stressful the situation was becoming. “We are going to stick together, and no powers, means no powers...” He sighed. He might actually be starting to miss the ghost attacks.

“Well, with our luck another akuma will attack soon, and you can go spy on the heroes,” Sam teased.

They had found the blog run by Marinette’s friend Alya. The 'Ladyblog' had an English translation on it and explained that akuma attacks were completely random, usually varying between two to three per week, but sometimes as frequently as two in one day, although that was very rare. So, in other words, they happened when you least expected it.  

“Hey! I thought it was just ‘observing from a closer distance…’” 

Jazz and Sam both gave him looks that said ‘not even you believe that.’  

He sighed. “Fine, spying it is… ” he paused, “Let’s hope I don’t get in trouble for that…” he murmured. Even though he knew it was spying from the start, he didn’t want to say it like that, in case it was illegal or something. And he didn’t even know if he would understand anything. 

“So, what time is Tucker supposed to get to the hotel again? I can’t remember what Valerie said, since you guys, or well, you, little brother, were hogging the Fenton Phones the whole time and I had to ask you about it later on…” said Jazz, with a twinge of annoyance, reminding him about his worrying over the phone about whether Amity was doing okay or not. 

If they were going to do something tomorrow to meet up with Tucker and his family, it was best to plan ahead. And Jazz needed all of the information in order to do that planning.

“Well, his flight should land at around 5 p.m. He did a lot of complaining about how he was going to be spending a whole entire day on a plane. He may be a tech genius, but seriously, he didn’t get that if he leaves Illinois at midnight that’s 7 a.m here, then when you add the ten hours flying… ‘voilà’ you get to Paris at 5 p.m.” explained Sam. They had something similar happen to them when they flew over, although it wasn’t as bad because they arrived around 11 p.m. and then slept through the night. 

“If I remember correctly, even you were confused about the time zones when we were travelling...” Danny teased her with a playful grin and Sam just glared at him in return. After all, that Monday night was hard for all of them. 

“Well, if it helps, none of us had experienced crossing so many time zones like that before...” Jazz paused, “That means that Tucker would get to the hotel at around 6 p.m.” she commented, getting them back on the topic of planning for the next day. 

“Yep,” said Danny, pronouncing the ‘p’ more strongly than needed, “so he should be free around six-thirty or seven tomorrow afternoon,” he finished with a nod. He was excited that he and Sam would get to hang out with their friend after such a long time. They had only been in Paris a week, but even before that, it had been hard to see him because of his mayoral duties. Actual ones, unlike this trip… Mostly it was fixing problems that Vlad left. 

“Okay, so let’s just say seven, to be on the safe side, that’s when we should be looking for him,” said Sam. She would never admit it, but she had missed her friend; she was really thankful to have him in her life. After all, the three of them were the original trio, the original team Phantom.  

“Sounds like a plan!” said Jazz and wrote it all down in her notebook that she was still carrying around.

Danny and Sam just rolled their eyes. Sometimes it seemed like Jazz was being a bit extra, but they knew she always had good intentions. And even though they would never tell her, they knew they were going to miss her when she went to Amity Park University in the fall. 

The three teens fell into a peaceful silence, each lost in their own thoughts. 

Danny was actually really enjoying his time in Paris. He never thought that travelling like this would help so much, but with Sam next to him so close their shoulders brushed, and Jazz at his other side, near enough for a teasing elbow to the ribs, he felt the tension slowly melting away.

Sam slipped her hand into Danny’s and gave it a gentle squeeze. She was so glad to see him actually relaxed for once, and she was enjoying every second she got to spend with him. A breeze blew through the park, rustling the leaves on the trees, and she took a deep breath of the sweet summer air. 

Jazz was quite pleased with how everything was going so far. She mentally ran through their itinerary again, they only had a little time here and she wanted to make the most of it. Although, she supposed, always thinking of what they were going to do next was probably not the best way to enjoy the moment, was it? She shook herself out of her thoughts and instead watched the way the dappled sunlight danced across the ground at her feet.

“Well, now that we know when Tuck is getting here,” Danny began, breaking the silence, “and we’ve changed our plans for the weekend to include him–” 

A sleek black car had pulled up at the park, causing some commotion when a bodyguard stepped out of it.

“Okay...” said Sam, noticing what distracted Danny. 

Jazz finished writing down some more ideas for what they could do tomorrow, making sure to account for how they were going to ‘just say hi’ to Tuck. Then she glanced up from her notebook and saw what Danny and Sam were looking at. “Is he supposed to be a teen celebrity or something?” she asked. It did look a bit like it was out of a movie, in a way. 

“I don’t know, it just looked like something was about to happen, with the way those people were acting. I didn’t expect it to just be some guy, I thought for a second that maybe an akuma was coming or something,” Danny explained. After all, they were expecting an akuma to happen sooner or later. 

“I thought the same thing,” said Sam, “but that blonde guy doesn’t seem like an akuma, does he?” She watched the way he was being shielded by his bodyguard. He didn’t seem like much of a threat.

“Oh!” exclaimed Danny, after seeing the guy a bit better the closer he got. “I think I know him!”  

“What?” asked Jazz and Sam, equally confused. They had never seen him before in their lives.

“Well, all right, all right. I don’t, you know, know him know him… but I’ve seen him. In ads. I think.” said Danny, trying to remember where exactly he had seen the ad, or if he knew what it was about.

“In ads, you said...” Jazz hummed thoughtfully, trying to remember what advertisements they had seen around the area.

“I mean, I guess… I don’t remember exactly where, and now that I think about it, I’m not even sure what it was for. I mean, how could I know, it was probably in French!” Danny said with a shrug. There were plenty of signs with people on them, both here and back home. Normally it was because of publicity, someone trying to sell goods or services, or worse, according to him, it was politics.  

“That makes sense,” Sam allowed. 

“He seems to be very popular… well, at least among the girls,” commented Jazz. She had been watching the crowd and noticed that most of the people that were now gathered at the park seemed to be teenage girls.

“Well, I guess, that’s our cue to go. Look, they’ve got a photographer over there now,  they probably came here to work… ” said Sam, unimpressed. What else would a famous teen do if not work in one way or another? It was either that or just be ‘annoying’ in her book.  

“Alright, let’s go,” Danny stood up from their bench. “I’m here to rest, not work!” Well… unless you counted the “definitely-not-spying” he would be doing on the local heroes. 

“Hey, isn’t that Marinette?” Jazz pointed out a familiar set of pigtails in the middle of the crowd of what they could only assume were fans.

Sam followed Jazz’s line of sight and found their new friend talking animatedly with another girl. “Yeah, I think so...” When she turned back, she noticed how Jazz seemed like she was ready to go ask Marinette for some more Parisian advice.

“Uhh, Jazz, I don’t think we need to bother her and her friend right now...” said Danny, picking up on the same thing Sam had. Knowing his sister, she would try to get as much information out of Marinette as possible, even though they didn’t need it, they were planning to spend time with Tucker tomorrow, after all. 

“Hey, just because I’m gathering my stuff and especially the notebook doesn’t mean… ” she trailed off when Danny and Sam both raised a sceptical eyebrow at her. “Okay, okay… fine. So maybe I thought we could ask her a few more questions… ” She sighed. It wouldn’t be that bad to get ideas of what else to do, right?

“Let’s just go,” Danny groaned. He stood up and stretched his back. It felt nice after sitting for a while. 

“I’m right behind you,” said Sam. She would have been happy to stay there and admire the sunset, it was getting late and would be going down before much longer, but the idea had lost its appeal when so many people showed up.

“Fine” grumbled Jazz, outnumbered and defeated. She finished packing up the last of their things in a small bag.

And so the three of them began making their way back to the hotel. They would probably go up to the roof and enjoy some time at the pool while continuing to plan what they would do with Tucker once he arrived. However, as soon as they started walking, a huge flock of pigeons zoomed past them, flying in formation. A scream went up from the crowd of fans, many of them running for cover.

“Uh, that’s weird, right?” Danny asked. “Like, I’m no bird expert, but I’m pretty sure that’s not normal.” To be continued :D :D

[kanerallels]

Kanera, Western AU

Me, reading this ask: Hahaha I could use this as an excuse to write an au of that time travel western I just finished reading! Jk though

Me, like two minutes later: UNLESS????

So yeah please enjoy the world's weirdest western au, it's definitely not what you intended but alas, here we are

Hera had seen a lot of strange things in her time. The gunslinger standing in front of her was quickly inching his way to the top of the list.

He was dressed normally enough—green shirt and dark trousers, dual holsters strapped to his side. But there was something unusual in his blue-green eyes, which held hers with a magnetic intensity she couldn’t bring herself to turn away from.

There was also the sword he wore strapped to his back. And the irritable teenage girl he’d brought with him, who was nearly as fast with her guns as he was.

And the fact he’d shot and killed Vidian. That was a big one. The rich rancher owned half the town, and was gunning for the other half. His goal, Hera knew, was to buy up every scrap of land possible and turn it into a mine, sending the profits to his boss. Destroying the town of Lothal and its farmland.

But then this man had shown up. And Vidian was dead.

As the sheriff of the town, Hera probably should have arrested him. But no one was really advocating for that—mostly because the news hadn’t reached Vidian’s boss yet.

Instead, she would settle for asking questions. A lot of them. “What exactly did you say your name was?” she asked, waving for him to take the seat on the other side of the desk from her.

He did, although his companion just slouched against the wall, frowning with deep levels of disapproval. “This is a bad idea,” she mumbled.

“Your opinion is noted,” the man said dryly. “I’m Kanan Jarrus, Sheriff…?”

“Syndulla,” Hera said, and he nodded like he’d expected it. Which just added to the many questions, but she decided to focus on the most important one. “Why did you kill Vidian?”

Kanan shrugged. “So he wouldn’t kill me first.”

“Again,” the girl said, and Kanan sighed.

“Sabine…”

“What? It’s true.”

Again? Hera frowned. “You two aren’t regular visitors, are you?” she asked slowly.

Kanan shook his head, a small, sad smile crossing his face. “No, H—no. We’re not. We’re here to do something about Sidious, or die trying.”

“Sidious?”

“Vidian’s boss, Palpatine.” Kanan’s expression turned grim. “He’s not what he seems. Listen, I’m gonna need you to trust me.”

“I don’t know you,” Hera pointed out, and there was that flicker of sadness in his eyes.

“No,” he agreed. “Not yet. But there are things going on here that aren’t going to make much sense unless you trust what I’m about to tell you, no matter how bizarre it sounds.”

Hera hesitated, weighing her options. It wouldn’t hurt her at all to listen to what he had to say, but she had a feeling about it. Like it would change everything, and that scared her a little.

What scared her more was the fact that her gut was telling her to trust him. Like she already knew he was trustworthy. Why? What does it mean?

There’s only one way to find out.

“Okay,” she said. “Tell me.”

Kanan nodded, gaze serious. “Okay. This is going to sound insane. But…I’m here to prevent Palpatine from taking over…everything. The whole country, and killing everyone who gets in his way. There are a few in particular we’re looking to protect. But the reason I know he does that is because he’s done it before. And I’ve seen it happen.”

Hera stared. “What?”

“I’m not from here—well.” Kanan grinned a little. “I’m not from now.”

Hera’s head was spinning, and she pressed her hand against the desk below her. There’s no way this is real. He’s crazy. But she’d always been good at spotting liars, and her gut was telling her that he was telling the truth. Just because he believes it doesn’t mean it’s true. Right?

Unless it does.

“I know it sounds crazy,” Kanan said, eyes still locked on her. “But we need your help. If Palpatine is currently in this time, we need to prevent him from reaching his targets here. Do you know—”

“Kanan.” Sabine cut him off, and Hera glanced at her. The girl was holding a glass cube in her hands, and it was…glowing? “They found us.”

Kanan cursed under his breath, jumping up from his seat. “Already?”

“Well, killing Vidian right away might not have been your best move.”

“Yeah, you’ve mentioned.” With a single smooth motion, Kanan unsheathed the sword he wore, and Hera’s eyes widened. The blade was dark blue, and made of something…unreal, almost. It shimmered and wavered, and her eyes couldn’t fasten onto it for more than a heartbeat.

There is definitely something strange going on here.

Turning to face her again, Kanan said, “Things are about to get very weird. This would be the best time for you to leave, if you don’t want to get involved.”

“You’re stopping Palpatine from taking over Lothal?” Hera checked, and Kanan nodded. “Then that’s all I need to know for now. I’m with you.”

Kanan smiled. “I thought you might be. Hope you’re ready for a fight. You’re good with a gun, right?”

Letting her hand drop to the rifle settled beneath her desk, Hera said, “They don’t give this star to just anyone.”

Kanan’s smile widened. “Oh, I know.”

[randombrambles]

Okay...going to wade into the Sabezra discussion. May the flying spaghetti monster in sky have mercy on my soul...

I guess you could call me a "causal viewer" because, despite being a life long Star Wars fan, I'd never watched an episode of Rebels before watching Ahsoka. I just never got around to it and I've only watched a handful of eps of The Clone Wars too. But anyway once I started Ahsoka I was like "this show will clearly make more sense if I watch Rebels" so I started. I'm almost done season 3 of Rebels as of writing this post. And really loving Rebels btw. Part of me of like "why didn't I watch this earlier?" but on the other hand I don't have to wait for the next episode and I know the major spoilers already so I'm not going to get the rug yanked out from under me.

So back to Ahsoka and Sabezra...the big questions. Did I see the romance "coding" (not sure I agree "coding" is the right word but whatever, that's semantics) in Ahsoka? Yes. Sabine's actions definitely come across as her being in love with Ezra to me. That said I can also see the platonic angle, especially after having watched some of Rebels, so I'm not going to tell anyone they are wrong for viewing Sabine and Ezra's relationship as platonic. These things are subjective and open to interpretation until anything definitively romantic or definitively not romantic happens on screen. And at this point nothing definitive has happened either way on screen. Nobody has been proven right and nobody has been proven wrong yet. Sabezra is basically schrodinger's cat right now.

Next how did I interpret the "like a sister" line in Ezra's holo. Um...full disclosure the first time I viewed that scene I didn't even register that he'd said she was "like a sister" to him. I'd never even seen Rebels at that point so I didn't know Ezra yet. So as a causal viewer my take away from that scene was Ezra meant a lot to Sabine and Sabine meant a lot to Ezra. And I'd be wiling to bet that that was the takeaway for most causal viewers.

So on rewatch do I think the "like a sister" line means that Ezra truly sees Sabine as a sister? No. On rewatch, paying close attention to the body language, and after having watched some Rebels, I think Ezra is both struggling to find the words to tell Sabine how important she is to him and telling her what he thinks she needs to hear in that moment. The problem is that in English we don't have a word to describe someone isn't technically family but who isn't a lover either but who's also way more than "just" a friend. Sister is the best word Ezra can come up with in that moment but you can tell from his awkward body language and his literal scoff as soon as he says it that its not the right word. And yeah I think Ezra thinks that Sabine sees him as a brother so he tells her what he thinks she wants to hear right before he heads of on what very well could have been a suicide mission.

Do I think Sabezra is going to be made canon on Tuesday's final episode of Ahsoka (of season 1 at least). No, but hold on nobody panic!!! I also don't think that means Sabezra is dead in the water either. And frankly I'm kind of mystified as to why Sabezra shippers seem to think that the next episode is make or break for Sabezra when its clearly not? If there isn't a love declaration or a kiss or both (which is what I'm assuming people would interpret can them being made canon) its not like either Sabine or Ezra are going to marry someone else on Tuesday either. And since much of Ahsoka has been set up, meaning not much is actually going to get resolved in the next ep (Thrawn hasn't even left Perida[?] yet! I fear we are ending on a cliff hanger), we'll be seeing Sabine and Ezra again. There's no rush for them to get together romantically (and I know that's hard to hear for people who've been shipping for years but its true).

And further to the "there's no rush" point I actually have to say I that I think its WAY too soon for anything definitively romantic to happen between Ezra and Sabine yet (and again I get how hard that is for those who've been shipping them for a long time). And I say that as both a "casual viewer" and someone who's also watched a good chunk of Rebels now. For the causal viewer who hasn't watched Rebels, which is probably a big chunk of the audience for Ahsoka, they barely know Sabine, have just met Ezra and have only seen them interacting for ONE episode and don't know any of their history. A kiss or a love declaration would seem out of the blue at this point I think. And as someone who's getting into Rebels I still think its too soon. While I agree that Sabine is very likely in love with Ezra I don't think she's admitted to herself yet (that's why Baylan used the word family when he was getting her to hand over the map thingy imho) no way is she ready to tell HIM. And as for Ezra...dude is clueless that Sabine might might have non platonic feelings for him so no way is he going to risk ruining their friendship by blurting out that he's in love with her. And not only that they've been separated for 10 YEARS ffs. They need to get to know each other again before anything romantic can happen, again imho. I want Sabezra to become canon but I want it done WELL. Sabezra is a friends to lovers ship, they are still firmly in the friends stage right now, it needs to be a sloooooow burn.

And finally do I think Sabezra will become canon? Honestly...I don't know. I'd like it to, it would be really nice to have a non problematic ship, especially after the sequel trilogy robbed us of FinnRey and tried to force freaking r*ylo. But I think Filoni and the other powers that be over at DLF (he is NOT the sole person calling the shots here, keep that in mind everyone) are probably testing the waters right now and waiting to see what the audience reactions are like before they make any decisions. I'd be wiling to bet that by the end of Tuesday's episode the door will be left wide open for pretty much anything to happening shipping wise. So we'll just have to wait and see. Time will tell, it always does.

[flilisskywalker]

I guess what keeps me up at night is asking what's the point of Sabine's search for Ezra, like... as an emotional arc.

(This text is an adaptation of the thread I wrote on Twitter)

Because when I rewatch the fourth season of Rebels, I get the impression that they are paired together in many episodes as a way to prepare us for a hurtful goodbye between the two at the end of the show, which is to me the same reason why they decided to go heavy on confirming Kanan and Hera's romance because they knew he was going to die.

I don't really know if the parallels between Sabezra and Kanera are intentional considering how Filoni talks about the former, but Ezra does become Kanan (even has a whole stretch arms sacrifice) and Sabine does become Hera (Deep grief for losing him) and not in a "The kid got this from his/her parent." sense, but in the sense of that the situation is really similar, which is interesting because it wasn't like this originally.

Ahsoka made Sabine's grief towards Ezra not being by her side all the time a thing.

Instead of simply letting Sabine's mission be about bringing Ezra home like in the original animated epilogue, Filoni complicates things a little bit by implying that Sabine is not doing this for Ezra, but for herself. Beyond that, almost every character notices how devoted she is to him and it even confuses some of them.

Thrawn, for example, has studied Sabine. He is well aware that Ezra is her compatriot and friend and yet... he is confused by her choice. Sabine states "You wouldn't understand." and then accepts to be stranded on Peridea just to see Ezra again. Once she found him and even after hearing he wants to get home, she did not say a word about Thrawn being his only ticket home. Instead, she simply enjoys time with him.

If you know Sabine Wren, you know that she would never ignore a huge Imperial threat and put in danger people like Hera, who is definitely an older sister type of role model to her, or feel that Ezra is the only family she has, so I do understand why people think she is very distant from the original show.

There might be a reason for all of this. A reason that I'm not sure Filoni wants to dive into, but the way he's been writing Sabine, the vagueness every time Ezra is the conversation's topic, feels like she has fallen in love with him during his absence and honestly? This makes far more sense than any other explanation.

We've seen in Star Wars before, fiction in general, that love is blind. Sabine's focus on finding Ezra is described by Baylan as something that blinds her. Not only this would justify her out of character attitude, but also the parallels with Kanan and Hera.

Star Wars live-action TV shows this year have been interesting to decode. In both The Mandalorian season 3 and Ahsoka season 1, there's a lot of subtle implications that characters want to build a life with somebody.

Mando does this in Chapter 22 - Guns For Hire, an episode surrounded by romantic love, where a droid bartender tells Din and Bo that human life is so short and then they look at each other. They want to be together, but that has not been verbalized yet. It is still very much in the subconscious.

Ahsoka does it in Part 7 - Dreams and Madness, by showing Sabine's lack of urgency regarding Thrawn and simply enjoying Ezra's company. It really implies that this was what her mission was all about: Be with Ezra. Her real desire is build a life with him, but that desire is still in the subconscious.

I believe Favreau knows all of that when it comes to Din and Bo.

BUT DOES FILONI KNOW THAT WHEN IT COMES TO SABINE AND EZRA?

[andreal831]

the subtle racism portrayed by Julie Plec and TVDU (especially Klaroline fans) fans as well towards Michael Trevino (Tyler Lockwood) is something that will always irk my soul. Both the actor and the character were done SO BADLYYYYYY. I know that since Tyler is written as a white character, technically his writing wasn’t “racist”, but I have reason to believe that Julie may have written him the way she did due to her issues with Michael Trevino.

What do you think about Tyler Lockwood? I think he definitely is one of the characters with the most potential besides Bonnie, etc. Most of the POC in the show (actors/characters) had the most potential and were sidelined.

IN FACT, I can say the same about Enzo! Yeah, Enzo St John is a canonically white character, but Michael Malarkey is a mixed race man (Italian/Palestinian-Lebanese), and we know how Julie is towards POC.

Like I’m not trying to blame all the bad writing on racism and discrimination, but all the POC actors/characters have shitty storylines and a lot of them are racist.

Lucy, Sarah Salvatore (the black Salvatore), Enzo, Tyler, Marcel, Vincent, Bonnie, Qetsiyah, etc.

Coincidence?

Whenever I discuss race, I do want to preface it by saying, I am white so I am speaking from that point of view. If you disagree or have another perspective, I would love to hear it.

That being said, I don't even think we can call what happened on the set and in the show "subtle" racism. There was such overt racism throughout the show that it is hard to discuss the show in any way without discussing racism. Just because Julie Plec doesn't view her actions as blatantly racist, it doesn't mean they are not.

Just the fact that they had two actors who are ethically not white but were portrayed as white is telling. Both Michael Trevino and Michael Malarkey were made to appear white in the show when there really wasn't a necessity for it. Tyler being Mexican could have added to the history of the wolves or it could have even come from his mom's side, allowing them to cast a Latina woman. For Malarkey, his race isn't really discussed but it would have been so easy to show him making Bonnie a nice Lebanese meal when they were staying at the cabin (cause lord knows the zionists running the show wouldn't allow him to be Palestinian). I also personally just like Tyler and Enzo more than Damon. I would have been fine with killing Damon off earlier to allow more screen time for them.

A year or so ago, my friend began watching the show for the first time and by the time we got to The Originals, as soon as Sabine walked on screen, she said "Does she get killed this episode?" People of color, especially women of color, were treated as disposable by the network. To the point that Tyler and Enzo likely only survived as long as they did because they were "white" characters. But it is also still obvious how much worse they were treated than any other side characters. Tyler and Enzo are both killed in such nonsensical ways and then they have no justice or even mourning. Tyler was a lifelong friend of the Mystic Falls gang and yet Damon isn't even sternly lectured for killing him for zero reason. Tyler had escaped the supernatural world. What was the point of dragging him back on the show just to kill him and have Damon suffer no consequences. He was Caroline's first epic love and she just forgives Damon for it? And what was the point of Enzo's death? Just to make Bonnie suffer more? Just to make her attend the wedding of his murderer? I know Stefan had his humanity off, but that doesn't change the fact that Enzo was dead and Bonnie was still grieving.

Moving on to how the fandom treats them. There is honestly so much hate in this fandom sometimes, and you're right, there is definitely a racial element to it. The way Tyler is treated by the fandom is so telling. I don't know if a lot of the fandom even knows Michael Trevino's ethnicity, but he is clearly seen as "other" or "less than" by the fandom. We also have to acknowledge how his "angry outbursts" are seen as unacceptable but when Klaus does it, it is because he is just so "passionate." The scene where Caroline keeps pushing Tyler to forgive her for sleeping with his mother's killer comes to mind. He snaps but he makes no move to touch her, and this is after repeatedly telling her to leave and her pushing his boundaries. I have seen the fandom call him "disgusting" and an "abuser" because of this, celebrating the fact that Stefan punches him. Stefan uses physical violence against Tyler's words, yet Tyler is the abuser? Then we have, Klaus, who runs her through with a coat hanger and bites her because she said something slightly rude to him and he is praised for "saving her life." It's hard to believe there isn't a racial element here. I often say Klaus gets pretty privilege, but why isn't that awarded to Tyler? Because we can't deny that Michael Trevino is attractive (I'd say more attractive than Joseph Morgan but y'all will come for me).

There was so much left of Tyler's story. The fact that they even had the Lockwoods as the protectors of Inadu's bones in TO would have been a perfect way to bring him back. Can you imagine Hayley or Klaus having to go beg him for help? It would have been such an amazing moment. But no, instead they bring Matt Davis onto the show to make sure he could infect every single spinoff.

You mention all of these characters and that's just in TVD. TO was no better. One of my mutuals recently got into a Twitter 'discussion' with one of the writers and the writer attempted to claim that the Mikaelsons were white supremacists and that was the point of TO, to show it was bad. Yet, when did they do that? How did they show being a white supremacist is bad? The Mikaelsons were at the top of the food chain the entire time. Yes, they constantly had people coming for them, yet they always won and the writing was always done in a way to make the audience root for them to win. How many POC characters were sacrificed in order to prop up the main characters throughout the shows?

Whenever we talk about racism in the show, we have to talk about Bonnie. Bonnie was constantly having to sacrifice her own wants and happiness in order for her white friends, and even enemies, to get what they want. Often when she set a boundary, the fandom villainized her. According to the writing and the fandom, her entire purpose was to serve the white characters. That is blatant racism.

But it's not just Bonnie. It's her entire ancestry. The fandom seems to believe Emily is Katherine's friend in the flashbacks, but she is clearly either being enslaved or at least some type of servant to Katherine. We can go all the way back to Ayana who Esther stole her spell to create the vampires. Or to Qetsiyah who was cheated on and used in order to aid the white doppelgangers. These things separately may not raise any flags, but the fact that we see it happen repeatedly throughout the show tells us it's more than just a coincidence.

Let's not forget Damon was not a confederate solider in the books. Julie added that. And yes I know he deserted but he says it is basically because he was missing Katherine, not because he morally opposed what he was fighting for. They added the founding families and yet didn't make the Bennetts apart of it even though they had been there longer than anyone. They were actively celebrating slave owners. Tyler's mom makes a passing comment of why they have the chains in the cellars and everyone just moves on. They chose to have the Mikaelsons live on a plantation in New Orleans. They chose to hire a very white cast and make it even whiter by white washing and killing off POCs.

Sure TVD is set in Virginia, but Virginia is only 65% white. So why was the cast 99% white? Then they create a whole show in New Orleans where 59% of the population is black, yet we still have a majority white cast? And when they introduce POCs it is usually to serve the white cast. Both Vincent and Eva were brought on so there bodies could literally be used by the white characters. Eva and Vincent's trauma were completely neglected and Eva was even killed off to allow Rebekah to use her body as she pleased whenever Claire Holt wasn't available to be on set. I've already discussed the difference in how Aurora is treated versus Celeste by the show and the fandom. You can read that here. Marcel is constantly belittled and sidelined, even after he is upgraded. There are so many witches of color in New Orleans, yet Davina is the most powerful? Why couldn't she have been played by a POC?

The show repeatedly dehumanizes people of color, especially the women. It's not a coincidence. It is pure racism. And because the show does it, the fandom does it. I am not taking responsibility away from the fandom. Each individual person should know better. But media is supposed to influence society. If we grow up with media that glorifies and celebrates different races, cultures, ethnicities, the fandom will begin to as well. Julie had no desire to do that. All she cared about was ratings and her own racist viewpoint of the world. She could have done more research, or hell, even just listened to her cast, but she chose not to. The writing of the show suffered because of it, but even worse the actors and even fans suffer because of it.

There are so many great creators in this fandom who are POCs and I highly suggest following them. They are able to give better insight in the discussion of racism in the show. But please keep in mind, they do not owe you their time or energy. It is up to each of us to do our own research and learn.

Thank you for the ask! I hope I answered it. Sorry it was so long.

[jessicas-pi]

📔

Ooooh.... Here's a crack AU I made up ages ago!

So, in this AU, when Ezra was young (like... three, maybe,) there was an accident and his parents were killed. And something happened in that accident that revealed he was Force-sensitive. He was brought to Vader, and Vader sees this child—small, but VERY Force-sensitive, and born almost the exact same day Padme died—and his reaction is just, "SON?????"

So... Ezra grows up believing that Vader is his dad.

Anyway, several years pass. Ezra is about twelve now, and he gets his first mission.

It's on Mandalore.

One of the instructors there is beginning to suspect that Sabine Wren is considering treason. Ezra is sent there, disguised as a new student, to "befriend" Sabine and discover if this is true. It backfires spectacularly!

Ezra decides that Sabine is The Coolest Ever, Actually, and sticks to her like a barnacle. They run away from the Academy together (though Ezra does leave a voicemail for Vader telling him everything is OK. He just doesn't want his dad to worry!)

Ezra says he'd like to go live quietly on Lothal (he doesn't remember it's his home, but something about the name sounds Familiar and Good), but Sabine doesn't want to. She says she'll drop him off and then she'll go and be a bounty hunter, but Ezra, who REALLY doesn't want to lose his new bestie, insists that he could be her bounty hunter apprentice. He's, like, really good at being an apprentice. Honest.

Sabine kind of has it in mind that he's this pathetic kid that she needed to babysit and rescue from the Empire (she doesn't know who he really is; Ezra honestly just forgot to ever mention it), but he convinces her to give it a shot.

So, here's the thing. Ezra was raised by Darth Vader, and though he's not actively evil, Ezra's moral compass is a pinwheel and in his mind, the only reason to not do something is if either Vader or Sabine have specifically said Ezra No That's Bad.

After a lot of bad luck, they finally get a bounty puck, and set off to bring the person in. They get to the planet, and Sabine suggests they split up, because she thinks she'll catch the bounty much faster on her own.

She doesn't.

By the time she realizes she needs to follow the sound of people screaming and running, Ezra has already located, ambushed, and messily dismembered the bounty.

"Did I do good?" Ezra asks eagerly.

Sabine quickly switches mindsets from I have to keep this kid from getting himself killed to I have to keep this kid from having a villain arc.

"Um, are you okay?" Ezra asks. "You look kind of weird."

"I'm fine," Sabine says, smiling nervously. "Y'know, maybe we should just go live quietly on Lothal or something."

As it turns out, "living quietly on Lothal" is fun for about a month (which is how long it takes Sabine to paint the entire inside of the comm tower they've claimed as their headquarters, install bunk beds, dye Ezra's hair, and make mini cardboard mandalorian helmets for the two Loth-cats he brought home.) Then boredom sets in, and Sabine takes to vandalism. Ezra goes with her. He thinks it's almost as fun as bounty hunting.

Ezra also spends time exploring the Force. He's been trained in the Dark side but the peacefulness of Lothal starts to draw him towards the Light. He starts to find an equilibrium.

Sabine and Ezra have the time of their lives.

Then, one afternoon, about a year later, when Sabine and Ezra are working on an art project, Darth Vader barges into the comm tower and demands, "Do you have any idea how much trouble you're in, young man?!"

"Aww, Dad!" Ezra whines. "You never let me do anything!"

In hindsight, Sabine thinks, that explains a lot.