#wish we knew more about ahsoka as a jedi

[jewishcissiekj]

Oh waitttttt I love Medstar

[darthgloris]

2AM THOUGHTS #5: Ahsoka snitching on Anakin to Y/N about his crush on her

Ahsoka looked over her shoulder and rolled her eyes with a small smile.

"What?" Y/N asked.

"My Master." She replied simply.

"What about him?" She wondered, looking back. She saw Anakin already staring at her with a charming smile. As soon as she met his eyes, she smiled back and offered him a small wave, which he returned gladly. She giggled at the thought of having his attention and turned around, returning to her conversation with the Padawan.

"That." Ahsoka deadpanned.

"Oh, come on, he's just being sweet." She dismissed with a wave.

"Is he?" She asked rhetorically. "You think he's sweet, you should hear the way he talks about you."

"What? What does he say?" Y/N wondered.

"Ugh, you have no idea! Do you know how many mornings I've spent listening to him whining over you and going 'she's such an angel, I don't know what we did to deserve her', 'I wish I could spoil her with everything she ever wanted', 'I'd leave the Jedi Order in a heartbeat if she asked', 'Maker, she's so intelligent, she makes everyone here look like a dog'-"

"Wait, wait, what?" She interrupted. "Anakin said he'd leave the Order for me?"

"He did. You turn him into mush just by existing," she confirmed. "He wants you so badly that if you complimented him, he'd die."

The realization of what she meant to him was a bit overwhelming, yes, but it made her happy. The happiest she had ever been. "That's... wow."

"What are you going to do about it?" Ahsoka asked.

"I... I don't know, I mean... he's amazing. He really, really is." She sighed, sitting on a rock.

"Do you like him?" The Padawan pushed, although she knew the answer as clearly as anyone with eyes.

"Of course I do, who wouldn't? I mean, he's sweet and kind and gentle, he's handsome, he's smart, he makes me laugh, and- oh."

Ahsoka raised an eyebrow, amused. "Gotcha."

"All right, then, I'm going to spend time with him more often." Y/N concluded.

"Starting now. Go." Ahsoka said and gave her a little push to where her Master was working.

Y/N walked closer to Anakin, who smiled brightly when he caught sight of her. "Hi."

"Hi," she replied, chuckling softly to herself. "What you doing?"

"Oh, just fixing this speeder. It got hit pretty bad during the battle." He sighed, hands on his hips as he examined his work from afar.

"How'd you fix it?" She asked, smiling fondly as she scooted closer to him.

"It's just boring stuff, you don't want to hear about it." He dismissed.

"No, tell me. I'm curious, I want to know." She smiled, resting her chin on his metal armour to peer at the ship. Through the Force, she could feel the butterflies erupting in his stomach. He loved when she took an interest in him and she knew it. Meanwhile, she felt sparks running through her body at the feeling of his toned muscles on her skin.

He let out a breathy chuckle before beginning his engineering rant. Her heart swelled with cuteness overload as he explained every step and every detail to her, and he looked so happy while doing it, as if one of his recurring daydreams had finally come true.

She wrapped her arms around his middle from the back, briefly nuzzling into his neck before turning her attention back to the ship. Her heart skipped a beat as she felt the muscles of his abdomen through his robes. Anakin froze as he felt her touch engulf him.

"Y/N..?" He hesitated.

"Yeah?" She asked, hoping he wouldn't make her pull away.

"Are you on death sticks?"

"No, Ani." She laughed, nuzzling her nose into the short curls on the back of his neck while she smiled.

"Well, then, um..." he hesitated. "...could you do this more often?"

"Aw, of course." She smiled as he melted into her embrace. He rested his hands on hers and continued explaining the final steps, every once in a while looking back to see her face.

When he finished, he was smiling like a happy child, finally getting the love and care he needed. They were both blushing furiously and smiling like idiots.

Ahsoka watched from afar with a smirk on her face, proud of her newfound matchmaking skills. Her heart burst with happiness as she saw Anakin press a kiss to Y/N's forehead, looking down at her as if she were his whole world.

Finally, the pining was over.

[squidthoughts]

why doesn't shin leave?

that's the question, right? there are secondary ones, of course – why didn't she kill sabine/was she sandbagging their duel/did she intentionally perform a nonfatal stabbing/was she sent there to interact with sabine at all, or just for the map.... but really, my question at the end of ep1 was:

why is she waiting here at all?

"we've been looking for this," shin says, and that's what, an accusation? conversation-starter? she's here to talk? maybe, okay – except she's actively thieving, so what can she be expecting by sticking around but a fight? so she secures the map and she waits for sabine. to fight her. but the question is still why and in my unqualified opinion i think the answer is found back here:

"ahsoka tano's former apprentice is on lothal."

what do we know about baylan? he was a jedi, once. he witnessed the purge of his order and adapted to a life of survival – he maintains certain jedi traditions, he passes these traditions to his padawan: the braid, the traditional construction of the lightsaber, if not the crystal inside (standing mystery, though). he is nostalgic but not melancholy, connected perhaps to the more elegant and noble history of the jedi but evidently strongly opposed to assuming that title at present.

what do we know about shin? well...almost nothing. except that when baylan speaks, shin listens. she obeys unquestioningly. when morgan speaks, shin watches baylan. they are close; there is mutual trust, though clearly more dependency on shin's side. and she is likely – though not certainly – born after order 66.

i'm confident answers will be forthcoming about shin's past, but in the meantime, working with the (very!!) little we have, assuming the subtle intricacies of the shot direction and ivanna's acting are all intentional, and with the full disclaimer that im brainrotty for wolfwren......i want to answer my original question.

shin has never seen another apprentice before. beyond baylan and inquisitors (apparently), she has probably never seen another lightsaber-wielder before. and yet – her master, while scorning the label of jedi, is steeped in jedi history. he seems to be training her according to some traditional jedi principles (though...what with the mass-murder and the mercenary work, of course we don't yet know the extent of those principles), and it would follow that he would have imparted the history of the jedi as well.

baylan skoll is not a jedi. but ahsoka tano is. or, was. but the antagonist squad refers to her as a jedi, so from shin's perspective it's not just "ahsoka tano's apprentice" on lothal. she is being told there is a real, live jedi apprentice on lothal.

and the jedi are extinct.

we're into the rampant speculation part of the meta now, because what is shin thinking in this moment?

there's a green lightsaber before her – a jedi apprentice before her – or at least the former-apprentice-of-a-jedi, but shin is the apprentice-of-a-former-jedi, and at some point the semantics get in the way of the exhilaration. this is probably (again, this whole thing could get disproven in the next episode or something) the first lightsaber battle shin has ever had with someone who might actually kill her. (i assume baylan wouldn't engage in prolicide while sparring.)

this is, i think, shin at her most excited. on the one hand – it's another apprentice! it's another member of an order (her order??) that was supposed to be wiped out! this is proof of concept maybe, that shin isn't so alone! and on the other hand – this is a test, no? like, the first real test of shin's full abilities, assuming she's never dueled before? again, i wish we knew more about her motivations, but it stands to reason a padawan that powerful and devoted would constantly be looking for ways to both prove and improve herself, right?

and then. sabine. sucks.

she's sloppy and weak and doesn't use the force. she's untrained and undisciplined and slow and gets tired too quickly.

shin starts blocking with one hand. she starts sidestepping sabine's wild swings. there's no way she's is trying to kill her at this point; shin is playing with her food.

i just...think she's disappointed?? like, she was probably expecting so much more from a proper jedi's apprentice, and i think we'd need more information about her to extrapolate what exactly she wants in this scene, but i'd be willing to bet it wasn't this sub-par, former-apprentice bitch-ass fight. (love to sabine but like. she did get her clock cleaned. obviously.)

regardless, i am excited to see how this experience influences the forestfight™ we know is on the way...and also if sabine, like, feels...anything....about being skewered like a county fair corn dog?? i mean trauma or anger or fear or drive or?? bc we know shin wasn't actually trying to kill her, (this is my official stance and im sticking to it) but sabine sure doesn't!!

[autumnwoodsdreamer]

I'm so intrigued by the Din x Sabine ship, please tell me everything about them. How did you land on this, and why is it actually a vibe?

Someone actually asking me about my favourite rare pair??!? Is this real life?!

Alright, essay incoming.

First up: some context.

I started watching The Mandalorian while season 2 was airing (so circa late 2020). Fell hard in love with Mandalorians and had to go digging through the wiki for direction to what other Star Wars media featured the loveable tin cans (because I knew the movies centred around the Jedi but there were plenty of cartoons and comics to check out).

I was bummed there was no other material with Din Djarin (somehow I missed the memo he was a character created solely for the SW live action show debut). But as my sister and I were going through the wiki and unearthing all the gems about Mandalorians (like their own super-cool language, their long history with Jedi, and their various factions), we came to the stuff about the Darksaber (which we had only just seen in the finale when Din won it from Gideon). We thought, oh cool! It shows up in some other stuff, like the Clone Wars and that other colourful Star Wars cartoon we used to see ads for on Disney Channel!

Diving down that rabbit hole, the name Sabine Wren kept coming up. Like, a lot. Go to her page and it’s like a full-length novel—apparently, she’s had more screentime than Din. Skimming through her story—Imperial cadet, made a devastating weapon that actually targeted beskar, left and joined the rebellion, found the Darksaber and trained with it, last seen leaving to go find Ezra (wait, who’s Ezra?)—got me so intrigued.

(Also around this time started seeing some fanart of Din meeting Sabine, which was so cute and funny because she’s this walking rainbow and he’s greyscale incarnate but still didn’t know much about her character. And because we had finished The Mandalorian series, I dove into the fics and came across this Mando/Rebels crossover by DistantStorm which was my first real introduction to the Ghost Crew. Sabine wasn’t much in it, however, it was more focussed on Din and Grogu teaming up with Hera and Jacen.)

We figured out the timeline and started with the Clone Wars episodes about the Mandalorians and the Darksaber. There were not enough, in my opinion, but we learned the Darksaber is a Big DealTM (and that Clone Wars is… much darker than The Mandalorian), and then went into the Rebels series.

We. Were. Hooked.

We came for Sabine and the Mandalorians, we stayed for the Ghost Crew and Lothal. The story was just so wonderful and we fell in love with the whole crew (Ezra is my sister’s favourite).

Figured out pretty quickly that, besides Kanan and Hera, Sabine and Ezra were the biggest main ship of the series. I liked it, too; my interpretation was that they weren’t quite romantically involved by the end of the series, but that it would most likely pick up and go there once they reunited.

While we were still watching Rebels, I started writing a little fix-it fic for The Mandalorian (I didn’t want Grogu to go with Luke, I didn’t even want the Skywalker nonsense to touch the series, so I dialled it back to them meeting Ahsoka and everything going pretty much the same except she doesn’t send them to Tython but, rather, speaks on Grogu’s behalf and lets Din know that he wishes to stay with him).

It… got a little out of hand…

What was meant to be a short story ending with Din adopting Grogu, spiralled into a longer story because I couldn’t ignore the fact that they would still have that tracker on the Razor Crest and Gideon would still be after them. I was also now quite enamoured with the Darksaber lore and I still wanted Din to get it, so I wrote on, not quite yet sure where to go.

Then I thought, hey, Rebels ends a very neat decade before The Mandalorian’s beginning. We don’t have anything more about that story, but we saw Sabine leaving with Ahsoka to go find Ezra. And everyone seems to believe Ahsoka was trying to find clues to lead her to Ezra in The Mandalorian, so what if…?

Long story short, I ended up writing a crossover because I wanted Din and Grogu’s story to continue and I wanted the Ghost Crew to find Ezra.

Sabine was twenty at the end of Rebels, so by now she’s thirty. We saw her hanging around that comm tower on Lothal in the Rebels epilogue, so maybe she lives there now? Would make sense. And Din was asking around for a Mandalorian at the start of season 2, and he hadn’t yet found his way to his tribe, so maybe he’d go back to that quest now that he’s adopted Grogu and no longer looking for a Jedi. What if someone points him to the resident Mandalorian on Lothal?

From there, it kinda just took off on its own.

And here’s the thing: Din and Sabine are very different, but they’re also very similar.

Their backgrounds, their personalities and goals are different on the surface and in some points, but underneath that, they’re strikingly similar.

Din is a foundling and Sabine is Mandalorian by blood. His tribe is very strict about how they wear the armour, hers is not. But they both hold fast to and cherish their Mandalorian heritage. They’re both raised as capable, creative fighters. Din values his armour highly, as does Sabine; Din cares deeply for the tribe, Sabine cares deeply for her clan; Din works hard for and protects the covert, Sabine strives to do what’s best for Mandalore.

They are both introverted characters, though it may not seem so at first as Sabine can be very expressive and easygoing while Din is notably quiet, reserved, and is rather economical with his speech. But Sabine tends to keep to herself (as Ezra points out, she often goes off to her room to be alone and even eats alone aboard the Ghost). Din, too, is quite solitary, both by nature and design—he seems a separate entity from the tribe, though he is undeniably a part of them, and while he does make a number of friends throughout his adventures, he always maintains a distance that’s not strictly due to his helmet rule.

They are both extremely family-oriented. In Din’s case, we see this specifically with his relationship with Grogu and in the Sanctuary episode where we see that, while he doesn’t feel he can have it, he does long for a peaceful family life; with Sabine, we see it in her relationships with the Ghost Crew and her regard for her Mandalorian family. (Most notably, Sabine, in the very first episode of Rebels, describes the Spectres as a family; she’s also the first one to join Ezra on his mission to rescue Kanan; she’s out for blood when Hera gets hurt.)

The Darksaber gives us some of the most fascinating insights into their respective characters. Both of them struggle with wielding it at first despite being capable warriors, neither of them seek the throne attached to it (even though they would both be the best rulers given the leadership qualities they refine in their respective stories and their ability to bring people—even enemies—together), and, dang it, they both looked so cool with it.

In writing them and their interactions, I quickly found they mesh well.

One of the biggest things about Din’s story is that he learns there are other kinds of Mandalorians and he struggles to accept that fact. A notable point in Sabine’s story is her bringing the Mandalorians together. She would be respectful of his beliefs and that would disarm him as his vast experience in the galaxy has been people mocking him (even, unfortunately, some of those other Mandalorians he meets). Her respect would earn his respect and he would be more inclined to speak with and help her. Having lived with and trained with not one but two of the best ever Jedi, Sabine could provide helpful tips about Grogu and, while not a Jedi herself, could probably share some of what she learned.

And, being as they would meet in a post-Purge time, I imagine Din and Sabine would be a great comfort to each other. They both lost much in the Purge, but Sabine, I dare say, lost the most (even before the Ahsoka show confirmed it, I figured the Wren Clan hadn’t made it; Din, in a way, was spared such heartache because he was already alone).

I have seen some say Din wouldn’t like Sabine’s painting every surface in sight (including her hair) but while he may not wear much colour himself, he never once voices any kind of aversion to artistic expression. He is the way he is largely by necessity: work is getting harder and harder to come by and paying less, he can barely keep his ship running; he can’t spare credits that the tribe desperately needs on paint. But his old armour was red, and there’s a high chance he chose that colour himself (both as red was the colour his birth family was wearing when last he saw them and red means honouring parents in Mandalorian culture). He might think Sabine is unwise to wear such bright colour because it will interfere with keeping a low profile, but he wouldn’t necessarily find it distasteful, and all the symbols she paints and wears he would approve of—they’re her signets, after all.

The more I wrote, the more I saw potential for a ship.

Because—and this is the important part—I did not start out with that intention. I just thought it would be cool for them to meet and interact (and I didn’t think canon was ever gonna give it to us).

Like I said, I figured Sabine and Ezra would ultimately end up together. But, because I didn’t read it as they were romantically involved by the time of their separation, Sabine would be looking to reunite with a friend and someone she sees as family, not a lover. That’s a key point.

And while I don’t believe everyone absolutely needs to be paired off or everyone needs a romance, I did think Din, ultimately, could do well with a partner.

He and Omera (the widow on Sorgan) clearly had an attraction that was not one-sided, he admitted a life in the village was something he wanted, and he never denied Cara’s insinuations that he liked the idea of settling down with Omera. But the thing about the Din and Omera pairing is that it is meant to be a little doomed: to stay, he would have to give up the armour because the village is peaceful and to keep it would always keep him a little separate from the ; but for Omera to go with him would be to uproot her and her daughter from their peaceful life and plunge them into his dangerous world—while Omera could handle it (it seems she must’ve lived somewhere other than Sorgan because why else would she be the only one in the village who knew how to use firearms?) Winta has only known Sorgan and she’s a very gentle soul. So either option would mean a great sacrifice, and I’m not saying it can’t work, but it would be tragic, either way.

But with Sabine, Din would never be asked to compromise as she would respect his ways; at the same time, seeing a Mandalorian with a different view of the armour while still being honourable might help to soften Din and open his perspective (not to the point he gives up his helmet rule because of her, but rather, should it happen, he wouldn’t view removing the helmet as such a crime).

Sabine is also a very mature character, right from her introduction in Rebels, and a quiet, more reflective partner like Din would suit her very well.

Mandalorian stuff aside, Din would be the quiet, grounding strength a battered, post-war Sabine could use and Sabine would be the passion and colour that would bring some life back to the utilitarian life Din has fallen into.

So, yeah.

Too long; didn’t read: Din and Sabine are very different, but very much the same where it counts, and those differences and similarities would work really well together.

And I just think they’re neat.

[graylinesspam]

Rex and Ahsoka

Training / playing / watching movies / cuddling / literally anything I just love them you honor

It might not have seemed like such a pressing issue on the front lines. Ahsoka had already been taught to fly a fighter and how to drive a speeder bike. Both more common means of transportation on the war front. But learning to drive a regular old speeder was still a necessary skill, and a right of passage for someone her age.

She should be getting her license sometime soon. The jedi usually earned theirs a little earlier than the general public did. But there wasn't exactly a plethora of speeders on the front.

So their somewhat extended stay on a real military base. The kind with permanent barracks and a real mess hall and working equipment, much nicer than their usual mobile camps, came with an opportunity that Ahsoka was not about to pass up.

And as usual when it came to matters of training Ahsoka Rex got volunteered by his General. Anakin certainly didn't have the patience to watch Ahsoka be bad at driving without reaching over and trying to take the controls from her. And after the fiasco that was Fives teacher her to drive a speeder bike, a matter that ended in her hitting a downed tree and flying ass over end. Rex was the only one qualified to train her, aperently.

She'd picked out a little transport truck, single cab, passenger seating in the bed. Nothing too hard to hover around the base. Sturdy enough to take a beating and safe enough that she shouldn't be able to tumble out of it.

For the month or so that they're predicted to be here, Ahsoka has been assigned as his driver. Taking him everywhere he needs to go. Runing arrends. Even volunteering to haul men around anywhere they need to go.

It wasn't so bad in the beginning. She'd clutched the wheel too hard and veered into oncoming traffic a couple times but at a slow speed. He'd barely been clutching onto his seat then. She was always a fast learner. Eager too. By the time she'd been able to get from one side of the base to the other without incident she'd started volunteering to take anyone where they needed to go. Running data pads back and forth. Picking the medics up at the end of their shifts. Driving groups to the training ground. Even making supply runs to the warehouses.

There wasn't much else for her to do at the time.

It was around a week in to her volunteer service that she started getting....confident. She wasn't a reckless driver exactly. She stopped at every crosslanes. Kept her eyes on the lanes and other traffic. Never hit anything. Or anyone. She just got comfortable traversing the same roads all the time. She knew them well enough that she knew exactly where to put her speed. Where to swing into a turn and where to coast down a hill.

Getting into the speeder with her now was what he imagined a typical teen driving experience was.

They had a meeting over the comm table in the main building first thing in the morning. Him and most of Torrents leadership. Which really meant Ahsoka's main Vod.

She'd pulled up five minutes early, Swung by the caf machine and whipped up some foamy shaken monstrosity, and sipped at it while they kit up.

They all piled into the back, pulling the canvas divider back so the men could lean into the cab and badger them. No one fought Rex for the front seat. He wishes they would. Give him an excuse to sit in the back.

Fives sat right behind him leaning over the divider to nudge him as Ahsoka started it up. "Should we strap in?" Fives joked, smacking the back of his hand against Rex's back.

Ahsoka cocked her head not bothering to look at him while she hooked her personal data pad into the sound system. The music kicked on with the engine. A syrupy sweet lady singer with too much base in the background for first thing in the morning.

Rex catches the glance jesse throws to the front of the speeder. Looking like he was considering bailing.

"She'll do fine." Echo knocked his leg into Fives' admonishment.

She shifts into gear and eases into the empty lane just fine. The base was quiet at this time. Only a couple vehicles moving in the whole place. She kicks up the speed in the straightway. Still following the posted rules. Tapping her fingers along the wheel to the beat of the music. She sips at her drink with one hand as they get to the hill, slowing to a reasonable speed before she lets the vehicle free drift down the incline. It isn't startling....just slightly blood pressure raising. The way their speed steadily increases. Her eyes remain on the road as she rests her cup back on one thigh, mouthing the lyrics.

The vehicle doesn't jerk. Just decelerates and turns with the curve of the road at the same time. The momentum tugs on them slightly. Makes Rex's head bend to the side just a bit. His hand bracing against the ceiling out of instinct.

She maintains proper speed all the way through the turn, straightens out cleanly and slides her hand over the wheel with too much confidence. Pulling the vehicle into the next turn just as smoothly.

It isn't recklessness. It's just- a lack of caution that sets his hair on end.

She has to tilt her chin up over her shoulder to check her blindspot while making a turn. Too short to see it without craning her neck a little. Alternates sipping her caf and glancing around. Checking her mirrors, her blindspots, and all the intersecting lanes as they coast through. Her foot a little heavy on the gas but never enough for him to correct her. She decelerates when turning, just not enough.

Hardcase starts singing along to whatever song is playing and there's a gentle breeze sweeping through the vehicle that should be so pleasant. Ahsoka belts out the lyrics with Hardcase. A horrible duet. And when Appo complains Ahsoka settles her drink between her thighs so she can turn the volume up with that hand instead.

The music isn't blaring, it's just chafing.

The speeder decelerates again before turning and dropping down another hill and Rex feels his stomach roll.

He's been tossed around worse in gunships. he shouldn't be reacting so harshly to Ahsoka's driving.

He just doesn't trust her.

Ahsoka follows rules to the letter but never to the spirit. And that's all over her driving. Always toeing but never crossing the line. For whatever reason, this time, it bothers him.

He cringes as she throws her head back and sings, her hands nudging the wheel into the subtle curve of the lane. Slowing down as she rounds the front of the building, pulling out of the lane and swinging the vehicle in the opposite direction he expected. She backs into parking spot. letting the men unload right onto the curb.

She throws the speeder into park and Rex has to lean his head against the door for a moment. Letting the knots in his stomach loosen.

They all unload from the vehicle, some looking more relieved than others. Hardcase asks her to send him her playlist and Echo slaps her on the shoulder. "Good driving."

Fives meanwhile is suspiciously quiet, and Jesse looks like he's looking for somewhere to reject his morning caf.

"Yeah, good job." Rex says as he slams the door closed behind him. He will keep the nausea off his face.

He will.

[dalekofchaos]

Stuff like this is why I don't think the inhibitor chips were necessary.

Why make up bullshit chips that turn Clones into cartoonish "good soldiers follow orders" when Clones just naturally hating the Jedi for being incompetent generals getting their brothers in arms killed and then said brothers dying for traitors, but the real tragedy of it all is that it was all for a lie.

Order 66 was just an emergency order like the others one. For example Order 65 declared that the Chancellor is no longer able to rule the republic, therefore he has to be removed from office, if necessary with lethal force. If the jedi could have convinced the senate, that Palpatine was a sith who orchestrated the clone wars and the senate would vote for the Order 65, Palpatine would be attacked by clone troopers instead of the jedi.

These Orders were also no secret, they were written down and the clones trained these orders on Kamino a thousand times. The jedi just forgot, that the clones were fighting for the republic and not for them, and when the supreme commander of the army, in this case Palpatine because of his emergency powers, orders them to kill their field commanders, they would do so, without question, just like the kaminoans said.

In my opinion this makes a whole lot of great stories impossible like the relationship between Darman Skirata and Etain. Also it would make way more sense when Lucasfilm wants to show more survivors of Order 66, because the only clones in canon who didn't follow the order were the Bad Batch, Rex and Gregor. In Legends many clones just didn't follow the order because of their moral compass or thought it's a trap of the separatists and we could see how the clones deal with their decision to kill the jedi, in Legends some of them developed PTSD and other thought it was necessary.

In my opinion they just took a whole lot away of the personality and individuality of the clones with the inhibitor chips and turned them into mindless killer machines and I don't like that, especially after we see in the clone wars series their personality for the first time and see that the clones are individuals even when they look exactly the same, something the movies failed to show us.

Imagine a plot line where, instead of a chip telling them to betray the Jedi, troopers like Cody got a message telling them the Jedi had betrayed the Republic and attempted to murder the Chancellor. That the Jedi were now considered enemies of the Republic and had to be exterminated before they could overthrow the democracy. Forced to choose between the Jedi generals and the Republic and Supreme Chancellor, the unquestionably loyal Clones support the Republic.

It could have added many complex layers. The Clones have to live with their decisions. Maybe some regret it and wish they'd decided otherwise. Others feel their hand was forced. Others that the Jedi were traitors and never doubted their choice for a second.

Or the conflict of Rex. What if he'd been among the 501st attacking the Jedi Temple with Anakin, but split from them at the end of his own free will? Rex, who was always loyal to Anakin, and a close friend, breaks from him and flees. How does he feel about it? Does he feel he did the right thing by betraying Anakin to save the Jedi? Or does he feel he abandoned his Commander and should have stayed loyal? Maybe he struggles with it every day, wondering if he made the right choice. Or imagine if Anakin came for Ahsoka and was about to kill her and Rex chose Ahsoka over Order 66 because he knew in his heart it was wrong and tossed a flash grenade and fled with Ahsoka.

Overall, I feel like the inhibitor chip arc made the story of Order 66 somewhat boring and too black and white. It could have been a fantastic jumping off point for the complexities of mixed loyalties, of following orders, of the failures of the Republic and of the Jedi, of how not only Palpatine's villainy but his charisma and personality led to rigid loyalty among the clones.

And honestly I feel like the inhibitor chips were created to weasel out of complex storytelling, just like JJ Abrams weaseled out of dealing with Finn's PTSD of being a child soldier.

[countessofravenclaw]

I wonder how many times Luke had to hear: "If only Bridger was here" during the preparations for the death star assault. Because like, Ezra and Kanan were the Jedi of the rebellion before Luke was. Did anyone even know that Luke had the force in the New Hope, because he barely knew himself.

Surely the rest of the rebellion wished that Ezra was still there, because he would have extremely valuable asset for the in the battle of Yavin, because he was a Jedi.

If he would have been there, he would have been one of the most vocal points of the plan. Luke succeeded because ghost Obi Wan told him to use the force, if Ezra would have been there, the plan would have been using the force in the first place. Just like during Secret Cargo, where Ezra used the force to defeat the tie defender, or during the battle Atollon when it had to be Ezra to be the one to find the way to escape to get help, because he was a jedi and had the best chance.

Luka obviously would have been the better pilot, since he has the genes, but Ezra was part of one of the founding cells of the rebellion. He had close relatioships with both Mom Mothma and Leia.

Like it or not, he also was the more advanced Jedi at the time. Ezra was finding news aspects of the force, getting rid of the one the most dangerous imperial officers and resisting Palpatines tenptation while Luke was farming moisture and wanting to join the imperial army.

Luka was Rebellion's jedi savior only because Ezra wasn't around and Kanan was dead. This is a hot take, but true if you search your feelings.

I wonder how much Luke knew about Ezra. Through some book, we know that he something of Kanan, probably from Hera, but what about Ezra and why he wasn't with the rebellion anymore.

I am honestly hoping so much that they meet in the Ahsoka show

[aniharas]

𝘪𝘧 𝘵𝘰𝘶𝘤𝘩 𝘤𝘰𝘶𝘭𝘥 𝘮𝘢𝘬𝘦 𝘵𝘩𝘦𝘮 𝘩𝘦𝘢𝘳 | 𝘵𝘸𝘰

pairing: anakin skywalker x padawan!fem!reader

summary: you are unfairly restricted from assisting your master in assignments, and you and your best friend, ahsoka tano, figure out who was behind all of it.

warnings: implied sexual content, miscommunication, angst, hurt/comfort

wc: 6.6+ split into three parts

chapter one | chapter two | chapter three

a/n: inspired by blouse by clairo!

"(Y/N)! Wait! You've got to confront Master Kenobi, this isn't fair!" your fellow padawan and good friend, Ahsoka Tano, called after you as she struggled to keep your angry, unwavering pace down the hall, away from the Jedi Council's quarters. You slid your fingers through your hair, feeling as if you could almost rip them from your scalp. The Jedi Council had called you in to discuss the raid on Kamino, describing your actions as "irresponsible" and "sloppy". They ultimately decided you were unfit for real combat and were to undergo training in the Jedi Temple for a year until you could fight alongside your master responsibly. 

To say you were angry was an understatement. You swore every stomp could be heard throughout the temple. You had only been able to accompany your master on his assignments half a year ago, and now that freedom was going to be taken away again? The longer you stayed cooped up within the Jedi Temple, the more the hallways seemed to spin. It was nauseating, and your master knew how much you longed for a mission. He also knew how capable you were to handle yourself out there...if anything, you definitely did handle yourself at Kamino just fine.

"I don't get it, why would my master do this?" You muttered as you slowed down your pace for Ahsoka to catch up, turning to her once she finally did. You both retired by a nearby staircase, plopping yourselves down to take a break. "He's not one to punish like this..."

Ahsoka huffed in deep thought, gazing at you sympathetically as she pushed your hair behind your ear. "I mean, you saved him, didn't you? There's no way he's angry at you for-"

Your Togruta sidekick cut herself off, pausing as if she had a revelation. She then turned to you, eyes blown wide as she gripped you by the shoulders. Pain shot up through every nerve in your shoulder, earning her a glare from you and her giving an apologetic look in return.

"(Y/N)...what if Obi-Wan didn't do this to you?" She suggested, loosening her grip on you, her eyes visibly lost in thought. "It must've been-"

"Who else other than my master would do this to me?!" You felt bad for interrupting her. since you know she wasn't fond of that, but she didn't care as she continued to look at you, her eyes prodding for you to figure out the answer.

You thought back to the mission. We landed at Kamino. Master Kenobi fought with General Grevious and almost fell to his death. I swooped in with my aircraft and saved him, and I got injured. I ushered him to safety. I helped bring Master to the medical ward. He scolded me, but he seemed grateful I was there. You paused.

Anakin comes in screaming like a madman about how I wasn't ready.

At this point, you were tired of the feeling of piping hot tears building up and slipping down your face, but whenever it came to that particular Jedi, you couldn't help yourself. He always seemed to unravel you, and it never seemed fair to you. Why did he do this to you? To keep you in Coruscant to make sure you were in one piece so he could screw you after his assignments? You wanted to be more than a plaything to him, you wished he saw you as an equal...you wished he even saw you at all.

Shamefully, your hands were your curtains as you hid your face, sobbing into Ahsoka's shoulder as she held you close and caressed your head. She didn't know about what went on between you and her master, but she was smart enough to sense a tension.

"Ugh! I oughta give that Skyguy a piece of my mind," she threatened with a scowl on her face, letting up her scary demeanor briefly to press a kiss to the top of your head. "You didn't do anything wrong. He's always been so weird to you for no reason. I'm supposed to spar with him in a bit...if you want me to talk to him, I can."

Shaking your head, you removed your hands from your face, your skin wet and splotchy from your tears. You didn't want to drag Ahsoka in to the mess that was you and Anakin. Reluctantly pulling away from her embrace, you continued your descent down the stairs towards your dormitories. "I'll see you later, Ahsoka."

You knew she wasn't going to be satisfied with that answer, but you hoped she wouldn't do anything too rash.

-

Anakin tried to not dwell on the thought of you. He kept trying to convince himself that restricting your Jedi training was reasonable, but the guilt of lying to the Council for his own selfishness kept creeping back. It was crawling under his skin, constantly sending shivers down his spine. He couldn't wait to finish up Ahsoka's sparring so he could retire to his quarters and relax.

"SKYGUY! Why are you such a prick?! How could you do that to (Y/N)?"

Alas, a lesson he constantly learned at the Jedi Temple is that he could never get what he wanted. He heard Ahsoka stalk up to him, stopping right behind him. He took a deep breath, brandishing his deactivated lightsaber as he turned to face his padawan. "I'm not aware of such a thi-"

The last thing he expected was the tip of Ahsoka's lit-up lightsaber directly in his face. After wincing at the heat, he gave her a condescending look, and she seemed to shrink a bit, retracting her lightsaber and holding it at her side.

"Please don't make me do chores for that, master...I'm just mad at you. (Y/N) and I know that you were the one that talked to the Jedi Council about her. You can bully other padawans, I don't care. But you know how easily worked up I get about her!" Ahsoka explained, defiantly crossing her arms as she gave him her death glare.

Suddenly, Anakin found the corner of his lips tugging up a bit. He knew what it was like to get worked up about you, it was the whole reason why he lied to the Council in the first place.

There it was. The twinge of guilt from lying about you to the people you both looked up to. He knew you didn't deserve it at all, but it was the only way to ensure that he would get to keep you. Seemingly out of nowhere, he found it hard to meet his padawan's eyes, indicating his guilt, and in turn infuriating her. She grunted in her anger, kicking a nearby deactivated practice droid to calm herself down. Anakin watched blankly, and he couldn't help but think about how you handled yourself when you were angry.

When something was troubling you, you didn't cause a scene like Ahsoka. No, you would keep to yourself and your friends. Your lips would be sealed shut until you were feeling okay again. You would keep your head down, but you would watch and listen intently. It was only then that Anakin realized that you've been troubled ever since the medical ward, no, ever since the morning of the Kamino raid.

"If you're going to bully anyone, bully me. I'm your apprentice!" Ahsoka's shrill voice sliced straight through his thoughts. "You have to fix this! Do you realize how unfair it is-"

"You don't think I know how unfair it is?!" Anakin shouted back at his padawan, utterly shocking her and making her take a step back. Gripping his hair, nearly white-knuckling, he turned his back on Ahsoka. "I know very well how unfair it is. (Y/N) is just going through what I went through as a padawan. It's normal. I am doing this for her safety since Obi-Wan doesn't know how to handle her," he answered shakily as he tried to regulate his thoughts, but it was impossible with the sound of his pounding heartbeat drumming in his ears.

"But she only had a couple grazes-"

"I would prefer if she had none at all."

Ahsoka was taken aback by her master's answers, for once finding herself at a loss for words. Since when did Anakin feel so strongly for you? Had she just been too caught up in her apprenticeship to notice? No, she would notice something like this. He barely even looked at or talked to you. She furrowed her brows at the thought, her fury rising once again to come to your defense.

"If you cared so much about her, you should've known how this would make her feel, master," Ahsoka scoffed, arms crossed, prepared to search for answers. Anakin stood there, him now at a loss for words. He wished that he hadn't helped nurture Ahsoka's sharp tongue, but she was right. He knew that he caused all this, the reason why you and he spent those nights together in the first place. The shame of inhibiting your progress, ignoring you, pulling you into his mess in the first place felt like it was all crumbling down onto him like rocks and boulders, feeling like he was being pelted with every word from Ahsoka.

"Listen, master, I don't know what your deal with (Y/N) is. I don't know if you have a crush on her or if you feel protective of her because you guys were brought up the same way. Who knows what's going on between you two? And I won't even bring up how all of this goes against many aspects of the Jedi Code, but just know that you went too far. You're not protecting her, you're just selfish. Besides, how could you say all of this when you pretend she isn't even there? She pretty much hates you now, you can't even treat her like a person, and you-"

But Anakin couldn't bring himself to stay and listen to the rest of Ahsoka's berating. He had to find you. He made a run for it, leaving his padawan alone in the training room, all while honing in on the Force to get a sense as to where you would be. Once he focused, he realized that your troubled state of mind was easy to detect. How could he be so caught up in his own feelings and desires that he failed to notice yours? It was like when he chased you to the medical ward, his body could barely keep up with the speed of his feet, his mind nothing but a distressed frenzy. His body has been through far more intense obstacles before, but the stakes of any mission never felt as high as the stake of you. His heart seemed to seize and splutter with every other step, and each one had him worry if he had ruined everything with you entirely.

He couldn't lose those nights with you, the secret meetings that became dear to his heart, unbeknownst to him. He craved the way your skin felt under his rough, battle-worn hands as he connected your birthmarks and scars together like a constellation. The sounds of your labored breathing and rapid heartbeat always matched his own, bringing him an overwhelming clarity. With every blink, your ever-so-versatile eyes stared right back at him. Teasing him, tantalizing him. Wanting him, studying him. You saw him for more than what he brought to the surface, made him feel capable of being needed, being loved.

Anakin never stopped once to take a break until he was met with the shut door of your dormitory. The way he banged on the door would make anyone think there was an emergency.

He couldn't lose you.

next chapter

[aburningconstellation]

i first met ahsoka tano when we were both children. i knew what it felt like to have people look down on you & underestimate you for being a young girl. her bluster and need to be seen as an equal and insistence that she was capable were my own. i believed i could do anything i set my mind to & wanted other people to know that i could too.

i don’t need help. i can do it all on my own. you don’t need to take care of me. i can take care of myself.

but being shown those moments of her childhood tonight felt like i was only just now experiencing the fullness of them. and it made me so deeply sad. it happened a bit in tales of the jedi too, but something about being an adult & watching young ahsoka go through trials of the clone wars for the first time really just drives home how young she is & how out of place it is for her to be doing what she’s doing.

because that is a literal child ! she is so small & young ! she should be doing anything else right now ! she should be in science class or having sleepovers or inventing code words with friends to talk about the people they have crushes on in public ! she shouldn’t be fighting in this war. no one should be asking her to. but they are. i wasn’t able to see it then, but it’s all i can think about now.

and it just makes me think about that old need for people to take me seriously turning me into an adult way before i was meant to be one. how small i was when i though i first thought i knew everything. how small i felt when i realized i didn’t.

maybe it is something we must all face. in our own way. in our own time. but i am grateful for ahsoka tano now, much like i was then. for showing me that after that loss of what could have been and the version of my girlhood i wish i could give to myself now - there is a path forward. towards light & life. that there is goodness to be striven towards. that i can offer more to the world than the sadness i carry with me about the way it has treated me.

because she has always been me. and a part of me will always be her. i think i’m beginning to understand the lesson she is teaching me now. i can’t wait to meet the person i am when i encounter the next one.

[tragedy-for-sale]

On You're Own, Kid.

Everyone has a moment when they realize the person they looked up to wasn't a hero, they're a normal person. Ahsoka remembers the day she started to see Captain Rex as a person too. TW for death and gore

─── ❖ ── ✦ ── ❖ ───

Ahsoka Tano was 14. She was 14 and fighting in a war. A bloody war. Identical men bleed into one. She remembered wanting to come along with Rex to look for survivors. He didn't want her to and know she knew why. "-All we found were dead bodies." Ahsoka mumbled. They were in the Med Bay, Rex sat perfectly still as a droid patched his face.

"Yup." Rex's tone was dry. He didn't want the damn kid to come with him but Anakin- he whinced, his rage weakened his composure. Ahsoka frowned, looking over at Rex's blood soaked armor. He dug through body after body, bloody and broken. Ahsoka never wanted to do that again. She could sense Rex's agitation but she was hoping it wasn't her that upset him. She didn't even do anything. She followed him, arms over her chest wanting to hide.

She brought a med kit with her, she remembered soldiers giving her a look that she now understood. They disapproved and she wished someone told her they weren't going out there for survivors, they were going out there for the dead. Rex walked calmly among the bodies, as if their deaths wouldn't haunt him. He only checked vitals for half of them, but for all them, Rex knelt down, whispered something and ripped a chain from their neck. "I shouldn't have gone with you."

"-But you did." Rex didn't look at her and he didn't comfort her. Ahsoka was expecting both. Anakin and Obi-Wan always took their time explaining death to her, they always made sure she was okay, but Rex didn't look at her, he made it clear he didn't give a damn about how she felt.

"Do you do that after every battle?"

"Always."

"Just you?"

"Just me." Rex's face twitched before his hand swung up and gripped the droid's arm, sending it into distress. Ahsoka jumped from Rex's sudden movement, he hadn't move at all before just then. Rex let the droid go before finally turning to Ahsoka. "It's my duty, not just as a Captain, but as a brother. My men, my brothers, died today. All their deaths will go unmourned by the rest of the galaxy, but I know the name of every brother lost today and that is what I carry." His voice was grim, he was gritting his teeth, angry at the world but Ahsoka thought him angry at her.

Ahsoka watched Rex stand up, unbothered by the dry blood that caked his armor. Ahsoka pulled her knees to her chest as she looked at the floor. She wasn't supposed to be doing this, she wasn't supposed to ever be fighting a war. She was a Jedi, she was supposed to be at the temple with her family not on a cruiser in cold space with an equally as cold captain. Rex shouldn't have existed. Every man that died today should never have died because they should never have been made. What was the point of this war?

"... This isn't what I'm supposed to be doing." Ahsoka felt her face become hot. "I'm not supposed to be fighting a war," She started to cry. Rex turned and had to force his disgusted look off his face. Soldiers don't cry. "I'm supposed to have a Master and he's supposed to take me to negotiations and relief missions and, and-"

"Commander- commander." Rex tried to cut her off, he walked towards her, he didn't know what to do. He wasn't supposed to be doing this. He wasn't supposed to be counseling a kid, babysitting her and thinking about her feelings. He wasn't supposed to be clearing a path so a hand didn't fall on her foot and make her more scared than she clearly was. He was a soldier, he wasn't supposed to care about someone's well being because no one ever cared about his.

Ahsoka didn't stop crying and Rex was started to panic. "Kid, kid-" He pleaded, "A-Ahsoka, stop crying." He was at a loss. Ahsoka looked up and wiped her eyes.

"You're covered in blood, and it's not even yours, how does that not make you so sad?" Ahsoka started to bawl and Rex jumped back, he wanted to nope the hell out of this room. "We walked through dead bodies and you didn't even flinch once, you didn't even cry!" She wailed and wailed, frantically wiping her eyes, hating that this was where she was.

"Ahsoka-" Rex took off his gloves, his hands didn't have blood on them, "Kid, look, look, stop crying," He knelt down and looked up at Ahsoka. She wiped her eyes and sniffled, trying her best to listen. Rex let out a sigh, "Look, most of time people look at where they are in life and are dissatisfied with where they are 'cause they don't see it's where they're meant to be." He started to explain, "When I was a cadet, I never understood what I was training for and I never really wanted to do it if I'm honest, but as I grew I found acceptance that this is just how my life is going to go, so I found meaning in it."

He grabbed a tissue and wiped Ahsoka's face, "You're still a kid, and you're being exposed to heavy things way too early for my taste, but maybe there's a reason?" He sighed, "You're a strong kid, Ahsoka, and you're gonna be a great Jedi, you're already a great Commander. So just take it one day at a time, reflect on the pain this war causes you and carry your heart with you in everything you do..." He trailed off, he thought he sounded rather smart just then, he just hoped Ahsoka thought so too.

She looked at him and tried to smile. He'd been so cold but now he sounded like Anakin, trying so hard to help her find her place. "Thank you, Rex." She whispered as she wiped her eyes. Rex half smiled and nodded.

"Of course, 'soka"

─── ❖ ── ✦ ── ❖ ───

[halfagonyandhope]

when the skies catch fire │ch. 39

first chapter (x); previous chapter (x)

Qui-Gon moves back to sit upon the armchair again, and Obi-Wan forces himself to unclench the fist he has made around the kyber crystal. His joints protest at the movement, but Qui-Gon’s light doesn’t flicker as he loosens his grip.

“You’ve grown impatient with your healing,” Qui-Gon observes, and there’s no point trying to argue.

“I’m frustrated,” Obi-Wan admits. “That doesn’t mean I’m not also grateful to be alive. It’s just been…overwhelming.” He sighs. “I’d lived nearly four standard decades in this body. I knew it well. And now I am learning it all over again, as if from the beginning.”

Qui-Gon nods and listens, his eyes on his padawan.

“I actually…” continues Obi-Wan. “I’m thinking a lot of what Taria Damsin taught me, before she became one with the Force. Her thoughts on disability, and her journey of acceptance and how it was intertwined with anger. It’s helped immensely. It’s helped keep my anger from being all-consuming.”

There's a beat of silence, and then another, and then -

“Would you like me to tell her?” Qui-Gon asks.

Obi-Wan swallows. “You can speak with her?”

Qui-Gon smiles. “I’m part of the cosmic Force, as is Taria.”

“Give her my gratitude,” says Obi-Wan immediately. “She’s part of why I still breathe.” As Qui-Gon nods again, Obi-Wan ponders how to phrase his next words. Deciding he could wonder about this forever, he dives in. “Can you speak with any Jedi who has become one with the Force?” he asks.

“As far as I know,” Qui-Gon says. “Yes." He studies Obi-Wan's expression. "You’re wondering which of your friends survived the genocide.”

Obi-Wan feels Satine’s shoulder against his, a warm presence. He leans into her.

“We’ve been in the dark about so much,” he says. “We have Neha here, of course, and Ahsoka - but they both left the Order before the genocide.” Something occurs to him. “You haven’t met Ahsoka,” he realizes, and he can’t help the smile that spreads across his face. “Master, she’s the Jedi I wished I could have been. She’s…”

And he can’t find the words to describe his admiration for his grandpadawan, but he thinks Qui-Gon understands.

“I did meet her,” Qui-Gon says gently. “Master Plo Koon had just brought her to the Temple before you and I left for Naboo. Obviously I didn’t know who she would become at that time, but I remember her. I am glad you have her now.”

“Me as well,” says Satine. “She helped me rescue Obi-Wan on Mandalore. She defeated Maul, just as Obi did all those years ago.”

Qui-Gon chuckles at this, saying, “Clearly it runs in the family.”

And Obi-Wan can’t help but smile, too.

Then Qui-Gon leans forward, resting his elbows on his knees. “As to your question, Obi-Wan - it will be easier to tell you who I cannot feel as part of the cosmic Force rather than who I can.”

Obi-Wan steels himself.

“Quinlan is not yet part of the cosmic Force,” says Qui-Gon. “Nor is Asajj Ventress. There’s a darkness that surrounds both of their fates, so while I wish I could tell you more, much of their whereabouts have been obscured. I’m not sure what that means, if I’m being honest.”

Obi-Wan isn’t sure how to process this, isn’t sure he’s capable of processing it. “Quinlan is alive?” he whispers.

“I believe so,” says Qui-Gon. “That mission you suggested him for, right before everything in the galaxy imploded…he was still working on it when the genocide was ordered. He wasn’t near any clone troopers, as far as I am aware.”

Satine shifts Léa, and Obi-Wan reaches out to offer to take her. Holding the infant against his chest, his gaze shifts to Satine as she says, “Mandalorian intelligence was aware of that mission. Quinlan Vos was working with Asajj Ventress. Is it safe to assume they’re still…associates?”

“My guess is they saved each other’s skins,” says Obi-Wan.

“We need to locate them,” says Satine. “Some of the last intel we had on Ventress was that she’d walked away from Dooku. She must have invaluable knowledge on the Empire.”

Qui-Gon’s shoulders tense at her words, and Obi-Wan notices. “What is it, Master?”

“Dooku Serenno is another who is not yet part of the cosmic Force,” he says. “Again, there is darkness obscuring what I can feel of him, but I sense that whatever Palpatine’s original plan was, it did not involve the Count surviving. Dooku is a loose end that he would like tied up, but assassination of the Separatists’ figurehead now, after the war is over, would catalyze uprisings that Palpatine doesn’t have the resources to quash.”

“What are you saying, Qui-Gon?” asks Satine.

“Dooku is in exile on his home planet of Serenno. It’s my understanding that as long as he doesn’t leave the system, the Emperor will allow him to live.”

Obi-Wan looks at Satine, taking in her arched brow, and he knows she's thinking along the same lines that he is.

“Commander Cody is stationed on Serenno,” Obi-Wan tells Qui-Gon. “We received this intel not long ago, but I wasn’t aware that Dooku was alive at the time.”

“You think Dooku is trying to summon you to Serenno?” asks Qui-Gon.

“Cody is…” Obi-Wan begins. He corrects himself. “Was my lieutenant. He’s saved my life more times than anyone else, except perhaps Anakin. Dooku would know this.”

Obi-Wan closes his eyes, remembering the nightmare he’d had weeks prior. Dooku had spoken to him, then.

He sighs, opening his eyes again.

He should have known.

“What does he want, I wonder?”

“You’re thinking of going?” asks Satine. Her voice is pained but accepting.

Obi-Wan looks down at Léa, whose eyes have now closed in slumber. “Cody is my family, too,” he says, and Satine places her hand on his thigh.

“Let’s see if we can contact Vos and Ventress first,” says Satine. “I’d feel better about you going if we had intelligence beforehand so you aren’t going in without some idea of what you’re facing.”

Obi-Wan nods. He glances at Satine, letting her see the worry in his eyes.

“You won’t fall, Obi-Wan,” says Qui-Gon. “Dooku won’t even be able to tempt you. It is the advantage you now have of being separate from the Force.”

“Load of good it will do me if I can’t protect myself,” says Obi-Wan.

But Qui-Gon just smiles. “That is protecting yourself, my boy.” He stands. “Before I go - ”

Obi-Wan rises, too, slightly unsteady on his feet with Léa in his arms, but then Satine is beside him, and he doesn’t sway further.

“Will I see you again?” Obi-Wan asks.

“I’ll be here whenever you call me,” says Qui-Gon. “And I’ll appear when you need me, even if you don’t call.”

Obi-Wan nods.

Qui-Gon steps closer to brush a fingertip against Léa’s cheek. The infant continues to sleep, unperturbed, as Qui-Gon moves his hand to rest on Obi-Wan’s shoulder. Though Qui-Gon’s image isn’t solid, Obi-Wan feels a slight weight to his touch, and he looks up at his master’s eyes.

“Obi-Wan,” he says. “I also haven’t been able to feel Bant Eerin or Siri Tachi in the cosmic Force.”

Qui-Gon’s light disappears at that instant, and Obi-Wan has to bite back a sob. 

“Bant,” he gasps.

He’s told Satine about Siri, of course, but he hasn’t yet told her about Bant.

“Bant was my first friend,” he manages to get out. “My longest friend.”

Satine reaches a hand up to his face, and he realizes she’s wiping away his tears. She guides him back down to the couch, holding him in her arms as he holds Léa.

“We’ll find them, Obi-Wan,” she whispers against him, her hand against the back of his head, cradling him to her. “I’ll find Siri and Bant.”

He drops his forehead to her shoulder, trying to compose himself.

“I promise you,” Satine whispers.

[tarisilmarwen]

Ahsoka "Fallen Jedi" Liveblog

Let's go let's go let's go let's go let's goooooooooooooo!

Oh I'm so excited for this I already know there are Developments.

Hype hype hype hype.

Oh we're starting off with complete silence are we? Okay.

Sabine trying to raise Hera. :(

Ahhhh yes it's the "Ahsoka and Sabine butting heads about saving Ezra versus stopping Thrawn" convo Sabezra fandom predicted.

"Can I count on you?" Low blow Ahsoka, recalling Ezra's own words.

"I know how much Ezra means to you." *falls into this line, dies*

Oh don't let Huyang get shot, come on now, you already had him get blasted once.

Buncha trailer shots in this episode I'm guessing.

"Stay together. You always did better that way, in my opinion." Ha ha ha this would be a sweet line if we had ever actually SEEN Ahsoka and Sabine working together. *grumbles*

Hera going off by herself to go help Sabine and Ahsoka lolol. That little face she makes when she says, "Watch me."

Baby Jacen is still super precious.

The GHOOOOOOOOOOSSST!

This sequence would have been the perfect spot to drop Zeb in, you know. Just saying.

Go girls go, go, go, you need to get on that ship before it leaves!

And it's my favorite new villain couple.

If Shin could have a bit more personality she'd be more interesting but "feral" is wearing thin.

OH AND NOW WE HAVE A TICKING CLOCK DEVICE.

There were people complaining that this moment where Ahsoka wipes Marrok was lifted from "Twin Suns" but in context... no it's just Dave's usual thing for cool samurai finishers.

Oh wow Shin looks extremely unnerved at Marrok dissipating into green Nightsister mist.

Did... Morgan take all the guards and droids with her? Just leaving Baylan there by himself to handle Ahsoka huh? What a bitch.

"One must destroy in order to create." Nooooooooo they really don't Baylan, that's grade A horseshit.

And stinks of Empire and Sith apologism.

The map is gorgeous. Wish they'd turn the saturation and contrast up just a smidge more so the colors could POP.

Oh this music cue is great!

YES! LET BAYLAN CUT LOOSE. Man is a beast.

Ahsoka's trying to disengage long enough to get the map. :((((

Ha ha, nice. Mandalorian trick.

Ooooof the map burned Ahsoka's hand?

Ahsoka where's your shoto blade?

Right, like Sabine's dinky little blaster is gonna do anything to that map, sure Ahsoka. You just burned your hand on how super overheated it was and all it was doing was generating hyperspace coordinates for a cross-galactic jump, you think a shot from a small firearm is gonna pierce it?

Oooooh that angle-back closed-eye look from Baylan... he's telepathically reading her like a book isn't he?

"Your family died on Mandalore because your Master didn't trust you." WELL I'M JUST GOING TO PATENTLY IGNORE THAT BECAUSE NO FILONI, YOU CANNOT JUST DROP THAT IN LIKE THAT.

Getting real tired of character motivations being reveals and not outright stated from the start.

ALSO WHAT EVEN THE HELL IS HE TALKING ABOUT???!???

THIS WOULD HAVE BEEN REALLY NICE TO ACTUALLY SEE, OR YOU KNOW, TALK ABOUT BEFORE THIS MOMENT.

Anyway as I said, excising this bit entirely from my personal canon, Clan Wren is fine, they're just in hiding like all the other Mandalorian clans.

"And I... to serve a greater good." Ohhhhhhhhhhh I see what you did there, nice paralleling Baylan to Thrawn.

SABINE CHOOSES EZRA.

(I mean I knew it was coming because I was spoiled but still.)

Sabine, Sabine, my poor heartbroken babygirl, this is such a human choice, it's not the choice a Jedi should make but then Sabine isn't a Jedi, I maintain that this is all still playacting and cope that Ahsoka is indulging.

Sabine is falling into the classic Attachment trap but also there are no good choices here. She could try to destroy the map, but I seriously don't think it would work, and then Baylan would just kill her and take the map back anyway.

Maybe she could run but with their ship damaged she wouldn't make it far, she'd have to hide in the woods and avoid Shin and Baylan and whoever else she's stranded and fight them all off by herself for who knows how long until maybe Hera gets there. And she has no way of knowing if Hera's coming.

Oh ouch, I thought Sabine was having a "What have I done?" reaction to handing Baylan the map, but no, Shin is just choking her.

HERA MADE IT.

See it takes Baylan deliberate sustained direct contact with his lightsaber blade to destroy the map, no way was Sabine's blaster gonna do shit to it.

SABINE DID NOTHING WRONG, I WILL DIE ON THIS HILL.

Again, guys, this would have been the perfect sequence to have Zeb in.

Uhhhhhhhhh I would move away from the ring if I were y'all.

HO JEEZ.

OH BOY.

WELP.

Chopper sounds really unnerved.

THE WORLD BETWEEN WORLDS. THE STAR VOID.

Unless it's a weird-ass Force vision lol. Which is still possible.

Yeeeeeeeah I'm going with Force vision, Anakin should be blue and glowing, shouldn't he? Unless things work differently in here.

The Imperial March is not reassuring.

Okay well... that was a thing.

I'm starting to wish Deborah Chow had been showrunner for this, Filoni is doing... okay-ish (not really) but I really think this story needs and deserves a director willing to go all-in on the emotional resonance and beats of the story.

Which isn't to say the Kenobi show didn't have its problems (ho ho boy could I list the nitpicks and writing issues I had with it) but Ahsoka isn't quite reaching the highs it needs. Everything is way more subdued that I think it should be. I don't know how much of this is the writing, how much is the short mini-series format, how much is the cinematography or the directing.

THAT BEING SAID I AM HERE FOR SABINE MISSING EZRA SO MUCH SHE SACRIFICES HERSELF AND THE MAP FOR THE CHANCE TO FIND HIM.

See everything about her motivations makes so more sense if she's in love with him, sorry Filoni, the ship is still sailing.

Baylan got a bit more characterization here and got marginally more interesting, while Shin just... continues to be wet paper. RIP Marrok we hardly knew ye. Hope they explain the green mist shit soon.

Natasha's shoulders must be sore from carrying this show lol. Someone please let Sabine hug Ezra, she will feel so much better.

[weirdlotiel]

Ahsoka ep 5. (Involves cursing and spoilers. Not necessarily in that order)

Did I say I love music in this series?

Last week I was talking with my dad and explained what was happening in the series and he asked if Ahsoka Hera and the team will use Pergills to find their way to Ezra and Thrawn. Not a bad idea…

Even more Jacen!!! Yay😍😍😍

I totally forgot to notice it earlier bur he has his dad’s… arm thing.

Huyang with Sabine’s helmet 😭. And how he tild them to stay together. He was so sad😭😭😭

Ahsoka has this thing with crossing her arms.

Anakin gives me uneasy feeling.

What does “finishing her training “ means?

Wait, live or die? Really? Well, that was quite… obvious.

Jacen knows something. I mean, why would he sit at the edge of the cliff?

I love how Huyang is half right half wrong.😂

Hera, listen to your baby!!!! He knows something!!!!!

And she listens! Or at least tries to. I love this duo.

Wait… Jacen hears what is happening on “the other side”???? I love that boy😭😭😭😍😍😍(and he made me cry!!!)

Carson: what am I missing? What just happened?

Huyang: Jacen has abilities. His father, Kanan Jarrus, was a jedi.

😭😭😭😭😭😭😭😭😭😭😭😭😭😭😭😭😭😭😭😭😭😭😭😭😭😭 (that was literally my reaction to this conversation)

Carson: okay, we better get on it then.

You mention jedi, they listen 😂

But still, why did Hera leave Jacen and Chopper alone ot there? What if some kind of beast appears? Or whatever?

Ahsoka- falls down through the clouds.

Me: don’t tell me there will be younger Soka?

Younger Ahsoka- appears.

Me: oh, she’s cute😂

Nice training btw��� well, dealing with your past is almost never easy.

Was that a random clone she sat next to? Probably yeah. Sad.

The talk with anakin, right after that… isn’t this a real dialogue from Clone wars? Or at least part of it? When they tried to get through the blocade to Ryloth? (I was watching this ep few days ago)

I knew there was something wrong!!! Vader is there! Be careful Snips!!!

I do love Huyang talking about Ahsoka and Ani. 😂

What did Chopper sense? Maybe a Pergill?

Oh, Siege of Mandalore? Just great.

Ani is dark. Is that a darke side tempting her?

Yup. Red lightsaber. But it’s not temptation… a test? Maybe.

I do love seeing more Vader side of Anakin. Although it pains me. (Btw idk how about the rest of you guys, but I had a feeling since the previous episode that we’ll see him today)

Yay, Ani is Ani again!!!!

No, he disappeared.

Haha, Ahsoka was just floating under the water. I should’ve known.😂

Jacen’s face when he saw the Ghost coming back with Ahsoka😍. I love this boy.

Jacen wants a lightaber. Of course he does.

Learning the past through touching objects? I didn’t know Ahsoka could do that.

I think she’s disappointed. At least a lil bit.

Ouch, Hera is in trouble. I hope she’s gonna be fine. (I hate most of thise politicians, did I mention that?)

Soka saw Pergills!!!!!!

Hey, you fucking senators, Hera is the general. End of discussion.

Why do I have a feeling me and my pa were right about the Pergills?😂

I love our big, soace Whales. (I need an amoji for them😂)

Dang, that Pergill is huge!!!!

Carson: I respectfully disagree.

My translation: Go fuck yourself you idiots.

So Ahsoka is gonna pull Jonah’s trick. (Now which story am I talking about? Who’s gonna tell me?)

Although I wish Hera went too. (And I do hope we’ll still se her in next episodes.)

This episode made me more emotional than I wish it did. (Especially because there was a lot of Jacen. Yes, Imma keep talking about this baby boi. And because we have more Pergills)

[burnwater13]

Image from The Mandalorian A Day Calendar, 2023

Din Djarin holds Grogu, while Ahsoka Tano grasps Grogu's hand. Inspired by The Mandalorian, Season 2, Episode 5, The Jedi

“Hey buddy, what would you like to do today?”

Huh? The Mandalorian was asking him what he wanted to do? That didn’t seem like his dad. Grogu wondered if he had a cold or maybe he’d bumped his head? Anything was possible.

Okay, okay. Din Djarin wasn’t that bad, but he also wasn’t the most chill guy in the Outer Rim. If he was going to ask Grogu a question it was usually along the lines of ‘Are you ready yet? We got a get a move on.’ Or ‘Grogu, you had frogs for dinner three days in a row, are you sure you want them again?’ Or ‘Buddy? Are you okay in there? Do we need to add more fiber to your diet?’

All that coming from the guy who always needed to grab one last thing before they left the house, who ate ration packs whenever possible, and used up all the hot water on a regular basis. It was reasonable for Grogu to be a little surprised and kind of confused. 

Was it a holiday? The one other time Din Djarin had asked him what he’d like to do with a day, it was the anniversary of the liberation of Nevarro. Grogu didn’t know which liberation day, because Greef Karga had created about a dozen of them so give the fine people of Nevarro something to celebrate. 

Grogu’s favorite of the holidays celebrated only on Nevarro (as far as he knew) was Mandalorian Day. He liked to think it was a celebration of his dad, but he knew it was for all the Mandalorians still making Nevarro their home. Grogu had been surprised at how many of them decided to stay there, even after Mandalore had been retaken from the Imp Remnant. He supposed it made sense. Compared to Mandalore, Nevarro was a very user friendly planet. 

Grogu looked up at his dad and asked what the occasion was. No point in speculating when he could just find out. 

“Uh, it’s my birth anniversary. I thought we could celebrate it by doing something fun together.”

What! Din Djarin’s birth anniversary! It’s not like Grogu thought he didn’t have one. The Mandalorian must have been born on some day. He was here after all. But why hadn’t they celebrated it before? Grogu would have been happy to catch his breath and just goof off with his dad for a day if he’d only known.

“Grogu, those other anniversaries happened when we were pretty busy. That time we were on Corvus, when we met Ahsoka; that was not a day I wanted to celebrate.”

Wow. Grogu wish he’d known about that then. It wasn’t that he’d been poorly behaved or anything like that, but he would have made his dad a card or saved him one of those blue sweeties or done something nice for him. He wondered if Ahsoka had known… he doubted it. He couldn’t imagine that she would have passed up on congratulating the Mandalorian if she had known. 

But… what if that was why she had refused to take Grogu on as a padawan? She knew it was the bounty hunters birth anniversary and the only worthy present she could give him was more time with Grogu! Sure. She had said that Grogu thought of him like a father, but that’s just the reverse of Din Djarin thinking of Grogu like a son! Uff. How could Grogu come up with a better present than that?! 

He reached out to the Force for guidance and giggled a bit because it was like the Force was just waiting to answer the question for him. He knew just what to do. 

By the time the day was over Grogu had made his dad a perfect cup of caf. Fed him ration packs for each meal. Helped him ‘tune up’ the N-1. Polished the Mandalorian’s armor with him and finally put on some sweet, kind of sorrowful music, while he listened to his dad read out loud from the Complete Guide to Speeder Bike Maintenance and Repair. 

When his dad finally tucked him into his hammock, Grogu was tired enough to fall straight to sleep. 

“Grogu? Thank you for the present. I really liked it.”

“Love you, Dad.”

It was the best possible end to a day spent in the selfless pursuit of happiness for someone he loved. If Grogu had learned anything over the course of his life, it was that time was the most precious gift you could give the people you cared about.

[dangraccoon]

Oyuba'din - Chapter 18: Reconciliation

Summary: Jaine comes across an old friend, Commander Tano helps Hunter, and Tech and Crosshair have a heartfelt conversation.

Warnings: curse-related amnesia, anxiety, guilt, vague reference to childhood trauma

Author's Note: sorry this took soooooo long to come out! I was hoping to get back to a regular schedule, but my job proved to be a little more insane than previously thought 😅 but I’m hoping to have some chapters queued up and hoping I’ll be able to post every other Monday! Keep an eye out!

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Jaine was breathing heavily as she scurried through the Temple halls. Everything looked the same as she remembered, but she wasn’t quite sure where she was even trying to go. She’d only been here twice, and it was so long ago.

She tried to listen for the Force, or her intuition, taking turns that felt somewhat random and unpredictable.

Suddenly, as though she weren’t in control of herself, she slowed to a stop. A set of towering doors before her, she pressed her hand against it.

Something about the hall in which she found herself felt familiar. She wasn’t sure she really recognized it, but she just knew she had been here before.

“Jainera? Oh, stars, it is you!”

Someone was watching her, curiosity evident in their eyes.

When Jaine looked up, and her eyes met the soft gray of someone she could have sworn she’d met before.

“Ah, I think maybe you’ve had another…mishap,” they said, smiling gently at Jaine’s confused expression. “It’s no matter; I can always reintroduce myself.”

They extended their hands, taking one of Jaine’s hands between them.

“You’re…you’re a Jedi Healer, right?” Jaine asked, the touch of them beginning to remind her.

“Yes!” they beamed. “My name is-”

“Khawa!” Jaine gasped, a grin forming across her face despite the way her head ached. “You helped me after I’d-”

“Yes,” Khawa smiled sadly. “I only wish I had been able to help you more back then.”

“Yeah, I’m sorry if I seemed stubborn or-”

“Oh! No, no, no! You were the perfect patient!”

“A side effect of being the daughter of a healer,” Jaine shrugged.

“Sure, between that and your clumsiness,” Khawa smirked.

Jaine gasped, falsely scandalized. “How dare you!”

The pair laughed together, the sound warming Jaine’s heart.

“Come with me,” Khawa said, giving Jaine a curious look. “It seems we have much to catch up on.”

-

“All due respect, sir, but are you sure she came this way?” Hunter asked, trailing the padawan nervously.

“Ease your mind, Sergeant,” Ahsoka said, waving him off. “I know the sensory dampeners caused you to lose her trail, but I read her records; I think I know where she went.”

Hunter stopped in his tracks. “The…what?”

“What, the sensory dampeners?” she looked back at him, stopping as well. “Didn’t you notice that your senses have dulled here?”

“Of course I did,” he mumbled defensively. “But I didn’t know such a thing was possible.”

Ahsoka hummed, turning back to continue leading him through the halls. “For those of us with sensitive senses, it can be very helpful.”

Hunter considered this. Races like the togruta and twi’lek were very sensitive to their surroundings, their lekku almost like antennae. He knew how it felt.

“What did you find in her record?” Hunter asked, his attention shifting back to Jaine.

“Considering it’s a sealed record in the library of the Jedi Order, it’s a bit classified,” Ahsoka chuckled.

“Anything you can tell me?”

“We’re headed to the medical bay.”

“Great.”

-

Khawa’s laughter echoed throughout the medical bay, and they wiped away a stray tear that leaked from their eye. “Did- did he really just pick you up like that?”

Jaine rolled her eyes, but couldn’t stop the fond smile that grew across her face. “Yep. Just hefted me over his shoulder like it was nothing.”

“Bet you hated that, huh?” Khawa nudged her arm, winking conspiratorially.

“Oh, no. No, not you too!” Jaine collapsed dramatically, her face to the small table between them.

“So Sinya thinks you have a thing for the sargeant too then,” they laughed.

“Yes,” she groaned.

Khawa gently patted the back of Jaine’s head. “Well, I hate to be the bearer of bad news, but as long as you’re on Coruscant, Sinya will be trying to get you two to hook up.”

“I know,” she lamented. “It’s just not going to happen. And besides, I’m pretty sure he hates me.”

“Oh, I doubt that,” Khawa whispered, lightly tapping Jaine’s arm.

“See, I told you I knew where she’d be,” Commander Tano announced, and Jaine’s head shot upwards.

“Jaine,” Hunter breathed, his voice flooded with relief as he came to kneel next to her.

Khawa made a face at her - somewhere between amusement, satisfaction, and curiosity, before walking to the doorway where Ahsoka was still standing, the two beginning to chatter quietly to themselves.

Jaine knew her pulse was pounding, and that he could hear it, but she couldn’t calm herself; not when he was looking at her like that.

“Hunter-”

“Jaine, I swear to you that we’re all okay,” he breathed, his voice barely louder than a whisper, but filled to the brim with emotion. “You certainly surprised us, but you didn’t hurt us.”

“I burned Crosshair! I threw you and Echo against a wall!”

“We’ve had worse,” Hunter shrugged, his eyes never leaving hers.

Jaine felt the sting of tears pricking at her eyes. “I can’t be the reason you get hurt,” she whispered. “Not any of you.”

The smell of the tears beginning to streak down her cheeks was breaking Hunter’s heart, and her usually earthy scent was marred by fear and anxiety.

“You could never hurt us, mesh’la,” he cooed, his hand cupping her cheek as he wiped the tears from it with his thumb.

“I already did,” she sobbed, not realizing the way she pressed her face into his hand, and definitely not noticing the way Hunter’s heart began to pound against his chest.

“I know you didn’t mean to,” he assured her. “Please, come back to the Marauder with me?”

Jaine swallowed. Hunter’s eyes were looking into her own so deeply, his warm hand against her cheek, and the slight smile as he asked her to go with him.

“Force, this is so sweet,” Khawa whispered to Ahsoka at the other end of the room, causing Hunter to whip his head towards them. Khawa squeaked as Hunter stared them down, and Ahsoka chuckled, pulling Khawa out of the room by their arm, despite their protests.

Jaine felt her face heat up, as though she had just realized the position they were in. She pulled her face away from his hand, awkwardly looking anywhere but at him.

Hunter missed the warmth of her cheek the moment it left his hand, but he pushed that feeling away.

“Please come with me,” he whispered, returning to his feet.

Jaine didn’t speak but nodded a little, accepting the hand that Hunter offered.

He squeezed her hand gently, savoring the feeling of her small hand in his own, trying not to feel hurt when she gently pulled it from his grasp.

-

“Damnit, Tech,” Crosshair hissed as Tech continued to care for his hand.

“Don’t be a child, Crosshair,” Tech said flatly.

“Maybe don’t press as hard?” Echo suggested quietly.

“Stow it, Echo,” Tech snapped, not looking away from his work for a moment. “It’s bad enough she burnt Crosshair’s hand, but now I’ll have to make repairs to the nodes of your chest implant. Maker only knows how much she hurt Hunter and he could still be in danger.”

“In danger?” Wrecker echoed.

“Yes,” Tech explained, the irritation he felt clearly showing through. “If he is with Lieutenant Vale, he could be in significant danger.”

Wrecker laughed, ignoring his brother’s tone. “Jainey isn’t ‘danger’! She’s so little, and she’s too nice to hurt ‘im.”

Tech scowled. “As always, I am the only one thinking clearly. Jaine Vale has already injured three members of this squad. Given her current unstable nature and the…powers she wields without formal training, it is more than likely that our squad will receive more injuries from her. Hunter’s original judgment was correct; she should be transferred out of our squad and, possibly, out of the GAR.”

“Tech,” Echo chided, placing a comforting hand on the shoulder of Wrecker, who was looking a bit like a kicked loth-wolf pup.

“What’s your problem?” Crosshair growled. “What happened that night you went to talk to her?”

Tech, finishing wrapping Crosshair’s hand, stood, straightening his goggles. “She incorrectly assumed I was there because I was having trouble sleeping. She brewed a tea with sedative properties and sent me off.”

He knew he was leaving out facts about that interaction. She was simply just doing her job. He didn’t correct her when she tried to deduce why he was pacing in front of her door so late at night, and it wasn’t as though she was incorrect; he was having trouble sleeping. Granted though that this was mostly due to his own guilt over his misplaced lack of trust.

He also knowingly left out the fact that she went on to explain why he was really there, opening up to him ever so slightly. It was like she had read his mind - something that not even Crosshair, his batch twin and best friend, could do.

He left out that the memory of how he’d felt that night - watching her work, the intimacy of her opening up to him, the tea, the way her voice lilted, the smell of her freshly washed hair that he caught when she sat so close to him - it all brought a buzzing sensation to his mind, like comm static, despite his anger with her now.

Tech especially left out his inappropriate request for a taste of more…physical intimacy, and his complete and utter regret that he’d stopped himself from hearing her answer. Or that the only time his mind was ever blissfully relaxed was in his sleep; that he didn’t dream often, yet that night he’d dreamt of her.

Returning himself to the moment, Tech knew his batch twin would be giving him a heated glare, and he could practically feel the anger rolling off of him.

“She was ‘incorrect’, was she?” Crosshair drawled, scowling at his brother. He knew Tech well enough to know that he wasn’t telling the full story.

Echo and Wrecker looked at each other with matching expressions of confusion, then towards Crosshair.

Crosshair looked at Echo with a face he hoped read as “please get Wrecker out of here”. Despite his anger with Tech, and his confidence that when the chips were down, Wrecker would have his back on the matter of Jaine, Crosshair knew his big, sensitive brother didn’t need to bear witness to the clash between his “baby brothers”.

Echo gave a subtle nod, muttering some excuse to Wrecker, and pushing him out of the room.

“You did not need to do that,” Tech said flatly as the door closed, leaving the pair of them alone.

Crosshair scoffed. “Do what? Spare the big guy from whatever banthashit you’re about to spew?”

Tech spun around to face Crosshair. “I am not-” he started, but upon seeing the utterly exasperated look on his brother’s face, he hesitated.

“Tech,” Crosshair murmured, patting the space next to him.

Tech took a deep breath, then plopped down next to his twin.

“Bic cuyir shi ni, ara'vod,” Crosshair whispered. [It’s only me, twin.]

Tech’s eyebrows shot up as he searched his brother’s face. “Gar su partaylir mando'a?” [You still remember mando’a?]

“Just enough to keep you on your toes,” Crosshair chuckled lightly, bumping Tech’s arm with his own.

Tech pushed back a little, rolling his eyes. The twins fell into a comfortable silence, just being near one another enough to calm their minds.

“You’re not going to ask?” Tech questioned nervously moments later. He was beginning to fidget, and Crosshair noticed. He also noticed how hard Tech was fighting not to fidget.

Crosshair shrugged. “You’ll tell me when you feel like it.” He noted that this was clearly not the response Tech was looking for as he watched his brother scowl at the floor.

Crosshair sighed. “What hap-”

“I was speechless!” Tech practically burst. “I was simply there to admit my own faults and apologize, then she opened the door and I just couldn’t say anything.”

“That…that’s remarkable. Did you note the time?”

Tech’s expression was unamused. “It was late and I couldn’t sleep-”

“Tech, I know this part, remember? I’m the one that talked you into apologizing?”

Tech thought back to that night, desperately trying to remember anything but her sleepy expression or the sound of her humming. Maker, he was right. He must be losing his mind.

“R-right,” Tech mumbled.

“Skip to the part where you couldn’t talk?” Crosshair suggested.

“You seem to have latched onto that idea,” Tech said, eyeing his brother, who barked out a short laugh.

“Moments when you can’t talk are very rare,” Crosshair grinned. “I can’t think of a single time you couldn’t find something to say.”

Tech rolled his eyes, shaking his head at his twin’s antics.

“And to think,” Crosshair goaded. “It was a little medic to finally get you to shut up.”

“Oh, shove it up your ass, Crosshair,” Tech groaned.

“Come on, brother,” Crosshair chuckled, elbowing Tech’s ribs gently. “Tell me what happened.”

Tech sighed again. “I can’t tell you.”

“Sure you can.”

“No, Cross, I can’t tell you,” Tech repeated, pointedly looking anywhere but at Crosshair.

Crosshair scowled a little, searching his brother’s face for answers. “Tech, if you can’t tell me, who can you tell?”

Tech didn’t answer, turning his face from his brother again. A quiet wave of harsh realization washed over Crosshair.

“Don’t do this, Tech,” he whispered. “Don’t push me away. Please, not again.”

Tech stood and began walking towards the door, but was stopped when Crosshair grabbed his wrist.

“Tech, please,” Crosshair practically begged, words spilling desperately from his lips. “Vi nu'cuyir ogir dar. Gar nu'vaabir linibar at haaranovor. Nu'vaabir haaranovor teh ni.” [We aren’t there any longer. You don’t need to hide. Don’t hide from me.]

Meh shi ibac rucuyir veman, ner vod, Tech thought as he collected himself and left Crosshair alone in the medbay. [If only that were true, my brother.]

Thanks for reading! - Dang

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Whumpuary Prompt 6

Exhaustion

Spoiler: This is an excerpt from The Nighttime Fear

Hunter heads outside, settling on the Marauder’s ramp to just… think. Brood, really. He was afraid this would happen. Of course, Crosshair’s primary mission is to come after them. That’s strategic. He knows everything about them.

He must know how much they’re hurting, too. Does he feel the same, or is he entirely lost in his anger?

He’s still sitting there when the others finally show up again. Ahsoka’s first, seating herself beside him on the stairs. “Tech told us what happened,” she says, “I’m sorry to hear that. I know what it means to want to just walk away from the fight.”

“Anakin said you always have,” he says, though he can’t even imagine it. The Clone Wars is why he and his brothers were made. Hunter can’t imagine a life outside of fighting. That’s… really all he’s ever wanted, though now? Things have changed, and he has to put their safety ahead of everything else.

She dips her head in a nod. “I was trained to be a Jedi, not to fight. I never wanted the war.”

Hearing people say that inevitably makes him uncomfortable. That’s stupid. She’s not saying she wishes he was never born. Those aren’t mutually exclusive. “If not for the war, my brothers and I wouldn’t exist.”

Ahsoka sighs. “Yeah. But what I’m saying is… that I want to leave the fight. I want to walk away from all of this.”

He’s exhausted. He thinks he could sleep for a week or ten. Either the aftereffects of the surgery haven’t worn off yet, or he’s just… “You could do that?” Hunter inquires, “Just walk out from all of this?”

“Jedi can still make choices,” Ahsoka replies, “If I don’t want to stay, I can… settle down. Theoretically.”

That isn’t what he’s asking. He knows the Council would let people leave the Order, even if hardly anyone ever had – it still doesn’t feel fair, because he and his brothers were always their – their property still. They couldn’t walk out even if they wanted to. (Anakin had said the same about himself.) “And leave your master?” Hunter asks, because that’s what bothers him the most.

He’d do anything to keep his family together. How could anyone else not say the same? He’d kill for them. Died for them. He already has.

“He’s taken care of me. Stood by me. He… I want his approval, but I still have to make my own choices.”

He doesn’t understand how someone could talk like that. Think like that. She’s talking about leaving her family because she’s uncomfortable with… what they are. He and his brothers have always stuck together. It – it sounds too much like… Crosshair. He doesn’t want to think about this. “I hope you find whatever it is you need,” Hunter says instead of the million arguments he could say to that. If his brothers wanted to fight, he’d do it just for them. Even if he was afraid, even if… but that’s not what Ahsoka has ever been. She’s… younger.

She’s their kid. They do everything for her. They’re not her responsibility.

“You too,” Ahsoka sighs, rubbing her arms. “I never thought about it too much, but maybe… if you want to settle down somewhere, we could do it together.”

Huh. So that’s what this is about?

“Maybe,” he says, not offering to commit to anything. He’s not opposed to that, but it would feel wrong to be with her, to know that Anakin and Rex were fighting for her, and she was… That they were keeping her safe while having no idea if her brothers were.

Ahsoka is far more well-known than they are – okay. That’s not true. She was far more respected in the Jedi Order than they were. Everyone knew about them, because so many people disproved of the Council’s decision to train them. They didn’t want them.

It isn’t that Hunter doesn’t… enjoy her company? But he can’t say he’s comfortable with it, though he doesn’t know why.

“I don’t know,” Ahsoka sighs. “I just feel like… right now, I need a break.”

Hunter nods to her, a little idly, but doesn’t verbally respond.