#in others it can get a bit “someone palpatine has returned”

[gaslightgallows]

I just finished recording the first episode of a podcast I'm guesting on, discussing Babylon 5, and just. The number of times I had to shove my fist into my mouth to keep from blurting out spoilers.

#babylon 5 #it is a DENSELY plotted show #well. in some places. #in others it can get a bit “someone palpatine has returned” #but y'know whomst among us etc.

[norcumii]

Fic title: Non-compliant Weapon (Rexobi, Murderbot AU)

(regarding this fic title meme prompt)

Ok, there’s two ways this could go. One, the slightly more predictable path of some flavor of reincarnation AU where the Jedi Organization (some kind of meddling well-intentioned doctors-without-borders type group) has gotten neck deep into several volatile disputes and need help, so they’ve gotten a generous donation of sec-units from, I dunno, Palpatine Industries (Insidious Industries is more fun, but a little too on the nose). Of course, these sec-units come with pre-programmed sabotage routines up to and including Order 66, and of course sec-unit Rex manages to wriggle around those.

The more interesting idea I had was a bit...messier.

The plunnie starts with the notion that for a full three hot seconds, some megacorp in the galaxy decided that clones were the next big thing and just mass-produced a whole bunch of them. There was enough outcry that the project was scrapped, the company went broke, and the clones were shoved in cryostorage to become someone else’s problem when all the lawsuits were done. Shortly thereafter, sec-units became a thing because that skirted some all the nasty ethical issues.

Decades if not centuries later (...I have no idea when the Murderbot books are supposed to be other than The Future), whatever megacorp bought up various assets discovers they have a bunch of illegal product sitting around frozen in a warehouse. It turns out that the cheapest method of disposal is actually to thaw them and toss them a small agro planet to colonize (the potential fallout if they just space the clones or keep them in a basement somewhere is just too high for profit margins, much to the relief of everyone else).

And that’s how Rex and his brothers end up thawed, with some nice genetic repair work, on a brand new planet all their own, and no idea wtf to do now since they aren’t expected to just fight something. Since Rex is one of the more restless clones, he ends up doing resource management, taking surplus out for trade and scrounging interesting stuff to bring back. And one day he walks into some space!army surplus store to discover in the back there’s an old sec-unit and its cubicle. Rex starts off feeling weird but wildly sympathetic to this deactivated fighting unit, only to become REALLY creeped out when he asks in passing about it – and learns its being kept around for eventual spare parts.

Rex is not okay with this. He dithers a bit, but ends up purchasing the whole unit and brings it home.

Cody gives him a bit of hell, but he gets where Rex was coming from, so he sort of resignedly welcomes their new sec-unit: [some clever punning/l337 speak version of Obi-Wan Kenobi].

So it turns out that this sec-unit is defective. It’s good at fighting, but it doesn’t like to fight. It talks. It talks a LOT. It’s astonishingly good at negotiating.

It also flirts with everyone except for Rex, which Rex is absolutely not put out about in the least. Really. He’s not irked. It’s a good thing. This damn thing comes out of the box flirting, that’s disconcerting so it’s kinda nice that Rex doesn’t have to put up with that – especially since it’s quickly decided that since the sec-unit does talk anything in circles, it’s most useful going with him to help him barter. And hopefully keep him out of trouble, though Cody is the only one to say that, the bastard.

Since this is a Murderbot AU, that means it turns out that there’s actually something Very Valuable on the clones’ new homeplanet, and at some point they’re actively defending themselves and/or having to diplomat with hostile bodies who are Not Impressed that a sec-unit is one of the main negotiators.

(It helps when things go pear-shaped, of course, since said main negotiator can dish out and take some extreme damage. So that's not too different from canon.)

Things finally settle down, Rex and Obi-Wan return to venturing out on the regular, until one day – probably after some spectacularly vicious flirtation with someone trying to kill them – Rex just blurts out, “I have never been able to figure it out. You will flirt with anyone and anything, the more hostile the better.”

“It’s a wonderful distraction tactic.”

“Oh, I’m aware. You specifically pick out pet names to enrage people.”

“It’s hardly my fault the Duchess didn’t like to be addressed as ‘my dear’!”

“It kind of is, but…” Rex hesitates, then shrugs, still not looking at Kenobi. “You have never once flirted with me.”

Silence. Rex sneaks a few glances, and Obi-Wan is refusing to look back at him. Finally, when it’s clear Rex will play the waiting game, Obi-Wan just shrugs right back. “I don’t know how to do it sincerely. Flirt for real with someone I like.”

Rex goes through several stages of oh with embarrassing speed. He twists around to stare. “What – but – even from the very beginning?”

Obi-Wan continues to not look at him. “I might have been...less unaware than my prior owner believed.”

Rex blanches, well recalling his own long time in stasis – a cold, mostly dreamless state of unconsciousness. The notion of being even somewhat lucid across those long decades is nightmare fuel even before considering the indifferent way the guy at the store had talked about spare parts in a box.

Then there are super-awkward cuddles, eventually leading to some kind of queer platonic aro and/or ace ship happily ever after. ^_^

Thank you, this was a fun challenge!

#meme #fic title meme #shadowmaat #made of awesome and win #star wars #murderbot fusion #fic ideas #plunnie available to a good home #rex/obi #and that's all the prompts I got #thanks for playing!

[enigmatist17]

Part 1 and Part 2 of my Fox not killing Fives and instead killing Palps <3

-----------------

Fives' breathing as he slept was all that could be heard in what used to be Palpatine's office.

Good, that's exactly what he needed to be doing.

He's asleep against General Skywalker, head in his lap while his legs are draped across Kix, who was currently sorting through some paperwork while contacting every medic he can reach. Cody and Rex had left some time ago to clear out the natborn Guard officers with most of Fox's men, with the promise they would all return to have their chips removed. The medic, once he had been alerted with the rest of the 501st as to what transpired, had become Fives' guard dog while their senior officers were gone, scaring away anyone with his glare save for a frighteningly few specific people. The Corries working in other parts of the Chancellor's former office have been spared his grumpiness, although Fox suspects it's because of the caf he's been bribed with, along with the pity he's kept to himself.

The city moved, unaware that the Sith is dead.

Fox looked down at the weapon in his hand again, and ignites the blade. The red is gone, instead, it has changed into a light blue, reminding him of the kind Senator Chuchi, and he smiles for a moment. She was always checking in on the Guard, bringing them little pastries and caf that his men often tried to keep as long as possible, and one time stole him away to her embassy.

He remembers sitting among the trees that shimmered like glass, and loses himself in the memory before there's a cough behind him, and his mask slams back up, blade vanishing with a click. Skywalker is looking at him with an expression of genuine shock, and he can see Thorn and the others stiffen from where they were all around the room.

Kriff.

"Fox? What were you thinking of just now?" He doesn't sound angry, but Fox had heard a lot of the Jetti were very kind. "I wasn't prying, but I saw some sort of tree?"

"It was nothing, sir." Fox winces at the slight pitch in his voice, but does his best to get the general to focus on himself. "Won't happen again."

"Well, it's not your fault you don't know how to shield your thoughts...I didn't know you had the Force."

Oh no

"He what?" Kix has abandoned his work, and Fox hates the way he can feel the medic just staring. "I've not seen reports of a Corrie with it."

"There are others?" Someone asks from behind Fox, and the man isn't sure if he's supposed to react or not, so he remains passive.

"Of course, did you not know this?" The medic is now wriggling his way free, and Fives stirs for a moment before settling.

"We don't know a lot of things." Fox squared his shoulders, and shifts to put himself between his men and the medic. Kix doesn't have to curse out loud, just circling Fox a few times before glaring at the spot where Palpatine's corpse had been hours ago.

"I can't wait to tell Master Plo, he's going to be excited." Anakin has gotten the message no one speaks aloud and snaps his fingers. "Kix?"

"Yes sir?"

"Could you come and be Fives' pillow? I'd like to take a walk with Fox." The Jetti hums, and with a slight grumble Kix moves to do as such, Anakin pressing his fingers against Fives' forehead for a moment. "This will keep him asleep for a little bit longer." The medic nodded, and both he and Anakin miss the look Fox shared with his fellow brothers before dutifully following the Jetti out of the room and down the hallway. He despised being up on this level, but he and his men had full control of the building from Palpatine's office, and once everything was done, they'd burn it down for him.

Fox wishes he could see it happen.

"You can light the fuse if you'd like." Fox blinks, and sees that Anakin is grinning.

"Sir?" He wouldn't be able to, right? He's a liability and is grateful they're going to do this somewhere out of sight. Anakin jerks to a stop, and Fox nearly runs into him as the Jetti whirls around to properly face him.

"I am not walking with you to kill you." The Jetti sounds upset, which is just more confusing.

"I'm a liability, with no training in regards to the Force," Fox looks at the lightsaber in his hand, and holds it out. "I'm not afraid to die.

Sad? Yes.

Afraid? No.

The explosion of Huttese from the Jetti Knight is...impressive, but lost on the Guard commander, and he watches Anakin begin to pace back and forth.

I will not kill my men, they're all mine, ours, they are OURS.

Fox drops the lightsaber as the raw emotions seem to just come from nowhere, and he reaches out for the feeling.

He wants to be loved, to be cared for, to be happy like all their other brothers.

He's clinging to Anakin's robes when he comes back to himself, throat dry and head aching as the rage seems to have died down.

"I'm sorry, I didn't mean to push that on you." The Jetti looks worried, and Fox has to struggle to calm his racing heart. "You're not dying, I just wanted to see how strong your connection was to the Force."

Fox just jerks his head in a weak attempt at a nod, and realizes it's almost morning now. He can hear the Jetti rambling on about training and Kamino, but he's not registering the words as he stares out at Coruscant in a daze.

He wants to see Chuchi's trees and share them with all of his brothers.

Anakin catches the commander when he drops like a stone, knowing that dipping into the Force with enough power to probably reach the Jedi Temple was exhausting to someone who didn't know how to reign their minds in.

"Kix? Could you send some of Commander Fox's men to my location? He's really heavy."

"Right away sir."

The Jedi sighs, and wonders how he was so blind to everything, while in the same breath, stealing himself for what was coming next.

The Council was going to lose its mind.

#personal #star wars #star wars clone wars #fox kills palpatine au #commander fox #clone medic kix #commander thire #anakin skywalker #arc trooper fives #feral for my big guy #and exploring some force sensitive fox #who was 100% tortured for it

[coruscantguard]

FoxQuin Day 3

Written for the prompt "Goodbye Message"

@foxquinweek

Warning for major character death, mentioned Order 66, grief/mourning, and implied mind control

(Ao3 Link)

Quinlan returns to Coruscant on a Primeday, and learns that he's too late. 

[[MORE]]

In hindsight, it's obvious. Of course he's too late. Reeling from the loss of his family, from the betrayal and the hurt and the overwhelming grief, it's months before Quinlan can bring himself to go to Coruscant again. And everyone knows that the life expectancy of clones is twelve years at most. To quote something Fox said, months before the order— he had already lived for longer than his warranty covered. 

So it shouldn't be a surprise that in those months when Quinlan is barely treading water, and the thought of Coruscant makes him nauseous, time continues on, and Fox dies. 

A fool, he was, to think that the end of the war meant Fox was safe. It didn't make any of the Jedi safe, did it? Not with Palpatine, and the rise of his Empire, and— 

Here's what Quinlan will never know: if Fox participated in the genocide of his people. If Fox was a bystander to it. If Fox fought it. 

Fox died in the heart of the Empire. That's not exactly encouraging. But Quinlan doesn't know what he was doing there, doesn't know if there could be something deeper. After all, Bly killed Aayla, and when they used to get on the topic, all Fox would talk about is how much he adored her. Was Fox fooled, by the kind of man Bly presented himself as? He must've been. There's no other option that makes sense. They all were fooled, all the Jedi, tricked into believing that there was a companionship there, that any of the clones cared— 

But it didn't feel like a trick. Once, he caught a memory off of Obi-Wan's lightsaber, and in that memory, Commander Cody's fond annoyance when picking up the lightsaber felt as real as the ground beneath his feet. Once, he went to a bar with Commander Bly and Aayla, and the way he stared at her was more than telling all on its own. Once— 

Well, more than once Fox and him shared a bed, and it's hard to conceal murderous intent when psychometry gets brought into the middle of activities like that. 

"I'm sorry," Quinlan says quietly, into the night. There is no grave for Fox. No memorial. His armor has almost certainly been taken and redistributed to someone else. Death, and none of the rites that should come with it. 

Quinlan has had issues with the concept of becoming one with the Force for years now, talked it through with Tholme and Yoda and Diath and still failed to find peace. But for all his issues with it— 

The Force is still warmth, kindness. It feels like the first rays of sunlight on a chilly day. 

The Fox he knew, the Fox he's remembering and mourning, is long overdue for a bit of warmth. 

"I hope you're warm," he says quietly, words drowned out by the roar of the Coruscanti streets. Coruscant is the heart of the Empire now, and it stings, burns, the fact that the place of Quinlan's childhood has transformed into this. 

Yet this is what Fox got, in the end— years of training and fighting just to be rewarded with the responsibility of Coruscant. These are the streets Fox knew, for all that he loved them, and for all that he hated them. Whether he approved of the Empire or not, whether he tried to save Quinlan's family or not— there are the streets he took his last breaths on. 

His voice breaks when he says the final words.

"I hope joining the Force felt like coming home."

#quinlan vos #commander fox #foxquin #vox #foxquin week #my writing #nat writes #TCW #SWTCW

[vforvadersvendetta]

That would be nice. To have someone else know when my birthday is.

I tune back into the conversation at the table, laughing at a joke Jango says.

Boba tunes back into the conversation as well, managing to get Anakin to laugh a few times once he comes back from his small break.

The ruse continues for five whole months, with both of you and Boba being incredibly careful about nicknames, actions, and any other thing that could possibly hint at the fact that you're Force sensitive.

And despite feeling a bit better day by day, Anakin still has those bad days where he feels Palpatine breathing down the back of his neck, lurking in the shadows, disguised as a passing stranger- anything slightly off is suspicious to him.

Especially today, even though he's tried his hardest to stay focused on the chattering family around him in the covert. One of them passed and the breeze felt too... strong. Like someone was drifting right behind them, just tagging along, waiting for him to realize they were there.

As a third joke from Cole goes completely unnoticed by Anakin, Boba slowly looks over at you, nudging his chin toward Anakin once he has your attention.

What's wrong with him? Is he subtly meditating or something?

Anakin zeroes in even further on a random speck of dirt in the sandy wall, focusing on that smothering presence that was once like a security blanket. He's here. He's here, he's finally found you and Anakin. He's come to end things once and for all, maybe kill you and take him as prisoner, to harvest his power from him.

Or worse, to use him against all of you. To make him hunt the rest of the Jedi. To make him work alongside his braindead soldiers who were formerly so full of light.

His chest rises and falls a bit heavier and his hand that was once tapping the arm of the chair stills, any excess movement too distracting from the approaching presence that he needs to pinpoint. He needs to get this right, to strike true, so that maybe one blow will weaken that monster to the point of no return. So that he can win and protect his family.

Faster and faster, that presence crushes the air around him. Palpatine must be in the covert by now. He should tell someone. He should alert you and Boba and ask for a saber, since his is at home. He should move. He should do something. But instead he's simply frozen, desperately searching the empty space and roaring silence for... him.

[the-firebird69]

Watch "ORIGINAL Funeral Pyre/Celebration | Return of the Jedi (1983) [DeEd, Blu-ray, GOUT, LPP]" on YouTube

They celebrated the fall of vader, and they heard the emperor has died too and they thought it was Mac and it was not. He was reassembled then he went to the museum and was freed rather quickly and was put back together went many treatments and came back as the emperor that you see in phantom menace and it's a wicked person but he's in and out and biden returns which is true. And he survives the ordeal. There's several other things that occur in Star wars with him in it and if you remember the series as it's a battle of hoth, and it's actually in that as Vader. And that happens after. And yes she princess Leia escapes the desk the death Star before Luke Skywalker blows it up. And he has a couple more appearances and he is not the one who is on Titan and that's palpatine who's Biden and they release Trump from duty coming up very soon. But he does a small role in Star wars and yes the junker and he is pretending as a creature and tell someone where something's from he says this is power these people after stuff and he's telling where it is they get mad at him why is he doing it everyone's after me he says it's okay New York spies what are you talking about is this if you get this they know that I'm forced to and then he says you're forced to anyway oh it makes sense and he started working again and these people don't get their way we want them out because they want to harm you to do your work and we heard it tonight a lot so we're going to hit them. And he gets out of the saga and it goes into other saga which is the sopranos and the entire Great lakes region is dropped yes the cities around that big huge pond it was not much in the middle and just going to be another War and it's going to be more of the worlds and Independence Day series and a few others come pretty quickly as they're fighting over where you going to be and stuff. And the clones are found out that's a huge reason it's most of the reason but really they won't let you live here so they going to die they would live anywhere so they're going to die they're trying to extort you to go down there like a little toddler that it is guys a toddler. This is a huge huge huge serious and very important it has a lot of meaning and it has a lot of meaning to all of us and we have been through so much and to see this happen is very intense to us and Stan is very young and his math is off a little bit he was doing the right thing and try it and it's horrible for young people. He says if he fails that he knows what it is and he's going to try and this is good you are doing the right thing and these clones are terrible. It's a moment to mark in history because of what's happening it is an incredible story. The Sunday goes on in many large figures get brutally killed or injured and in it you'll see Gran tarkin and die and others like him, he's a Mac and it'll put up with any crap or lip or talk and these idiots need to die he said years ago and there's a bunch of them that can hurt and injured and killed and some leaders and there's a Big rubble moving there's fuels by the empire ships and Biden takes a huge fleet out of empire ships and they are the clones and he becomes known as a clone killer. And they try to go after him a lot and he kills tons of them and you really need it and the war in the clothes that's begun and this is part of the Star wars saga and that's when a big chunk of it is most of it in reality is driven by it and started because of it and it's what the whole Star wars movie is about the clone wars and their intense and this movie series is intense my son can tell you and my and our daughter to us movies too with him in her current time. And he loves her a lot and they've been through this together. And he remembers and you nervous when vader was burned him he couldn't tell who he was, if it happens it's very personal. It says as usual the rebels get it wrong then they figure it ouy

Thor Freya

I'm up for this she's going to go to sleep

Hera

Olympus

#Youtube

[blackkatmagic]

Prompt! Mace is stuck in a time loop of evening he fought Palpatine. He’s a little surprised at first at how willing the CG commanders are to help him commit murder, but he appreciates it

Mace is scorched, bleeding heavily, and missing a hand, still out of breath from his last fall before the section of looped time reset, when he staggers in the Coruscant Guard’s main office, then locks the door behind him.

Halfway out of his chair, Fox freezes, eyes widening. “General Windu!” he says sharply, and reaches for his comm. “Thire, go get Medical—”

“Only a Guard medic,” Mace says, and Fox goes still, Thire frozen halfway to his feet on the other side of the room. Mace meets Fox’s narrowing eyes, feeling the wash of suspicion rising, and can't even manage to hide the exhaustion in his voice when he says, “I don’t trust anyone else.”

He’s failed to kill Palpatine four times now. Four betrayals, four falls out the wide window, four times surviving just to watch the Jedi Order fall right alongside the Republic. Exhaustion is the very lightest word for what Mace feels right now.

Fox glances from Mace to the door to the other commanders, then deliberately reaches over, switches off the comm, and engages the privacy lock on the office. “We have an hour before the shift change,” he says.

Stone rises, pushing past Thire, to approach with quick steps. “I've got bacta,” he offers.

The best possible outcome. Mace tries not to stagger as he heads across the office, but he must look bad enough that Thire meets him halfway, grabbing Mace's arm and supporting him right to the empty chair across his desk. It’s a familiar seat, and Mace collapses into it with a sound that might be a groan, tipping his head back. thinks, a little grimly, of how he’s going to get Fox to agree to what he needs help with, but—Fox is the best shot in the Guard, the most fearless man Mace has ever met. If he can't do it, no one can. And all of his commanders are intensely loyal and well-trained and brave. They’re necessary, too.

All Mace needs is to not sound like he’s gone mad for the next hour.

“No caf this time?” he asks, then sets his teeth against a gasp as Fox pulls his robe away from the long, jagged slash that’s sheeting blood down his side. The third fall, Mace thinks. He wasn’t able to stop all of the glass as it fell after him.

There's a pause, careful, and then Fox snorts quietly. “You didn’t even call ahead this time,” he says, and from the tone of his voice Mace might almost believe it’s one of their weekly meetings, nominally to discuss security but more often to drink caf and complain about the idiocy of senators. “Not a Jedi. Don’t expect me to read your mind.” With a quick, ruthless jerk, Fox pulls a shard of glass free, then catches Mace's shoulder before he can do more than cry out and slaps a bacta patch over the spot, sealing the edges.

When the world stops lurching like one of Anakin's crashing ships, Mace opens his eyes, and finds himself pressed face-first to hard plastoid, as red as blood.

“My apologies, Commander,” he manages, though picking up his head feels like rather too much effort right now. “I would have called if I could have.”

Above him, there’s a quiet breath, and Stone sets a hand on his shoulder. “Sir,” he says quietly. “What happened to you?”

Fox’s hand curls around the back of his skull, holding him carefully in place, and—after three years of war, trooper armor feels like safety. Even seeing what the 501st was forced to do, all Mace can feel right now is a deep, desperate sense of shelter, like finally finding a light in a storm.

“We’ll murder them for you,” Thire says on Mace's other side, conversational and easy, like it’s the predetermined outcome, without question and entirely within their ability. “Just give us the name, General.”

Mace opens his eyes, staring at red and white plastoid, and takes a breath. “The Sith Lord,” he says. “I found him.”

Fox’s indrawn breath is a vicious hiss. “Thire,” he says without hesitation. “Those slugthrowers we seized the other day, in the lockup, and the ammunition—”

“On it,” Thire says grimly, and then he’s gone, across the office and into another room. Fox himself doesn’t move, and Stone’s hand curls more tightly around Mace's shoulder, holding him steady.

“General Windu,” Fox says, quiet. “Just give us the name and we’ll take care of it.”

They will, Mace thinks, and it’s almost astonishing. Within ten seconds, Fox had a plan, and that’s—well. Precisely why this is where Mace came when he’d run through all other options and was on the verge of collapse.

“I need to come,” he says, though when he goes to lever himself to his feet, Stone gently pushes him back down. “You may hesitate, and I need to guard you if you do. He’s powerful—”

“Hesitate,” Fox repeats, frowning. He glances up as Thire returns, carrying two locked boxes. “Why the kriff would we hesitate? He’s a Sith Lord. He did this to you. He’s the one behind this whole karking war.”

Right. The difficult part. Mace takes a breath, carefully pushing himself upright, and says, “His identity. You might think I'm lying.”

There's a pause, and then Thire snorts, thumping the boxes down on top of Fox’s desk. “With all due respect, sir,” he says. “I can't even pictureyou lying to a clone.”

Stone makes a sound of quiet amusement. “What he said.”

Mace glances up, meets Fox’s eyes. “I'm going to ask you to help me murder someone very important and highly-placed,” he say quietly. “With no proof but my word.”

“And your injuries,” Fox says ruthlessly, though his hand is careful on Mace's throat. Mace should likely be thinking of troopers in the Temple, executing children, but all he can picture is Ponds on his left, Razor on his right, Stak asleep against his knees in front of the fire. It makes him close his eyes again for just a second, leaning into Fox’s touch.

“It’s Chancellor Palpatine,” he says clearly, as steadily as he’s able to. “Chancellor Palpatine is the Sith Lord. I need your help to kill him.”

There's one beat of stunned, frozen silence. Then, careful, Thire clears his throat. “You want us to kill the Supreme Chancellor?” he asks.

“Yes,” Mace says, and when he sits back, all three commanders are staring at him. Something in his chest sinks, grim and resigned. “I can't—”

“Thire, get those damn boxes open,” Fox orders. “Stone, we need some kind of distraction. Grab some detonators.”

“Sir yes sir,” Stone says, and scrambles to obey as Thire lunges for the lock boxes. “That rotary blaster—”

“No blasters, just slugs,” Fox says firmly. “General Windu, if he sees you—”

“He won't remember my attempt to kill him,” Mace says automatically, though he can't quite get his brain to click over and accept that he can see in front of him. “I—Commanders—”

“No backing out!” Thire says over his shoulder. “It came from a Jedi, it’s an order, just let us do it this one time—”

“No take-backs,” Stone agrees, dumping a bandolier full of grenades over his head and settling it quickly. He also grabs for a very large vibrosword that’s leaning against the wall. “Even if you’re wrong, sir, we’d better just check, right?”

Fox snorts, and as soon as Thire gets the box open, he reaches for one of the slugthrowers. “Call it a birthday present,” he agrees, and glances at Mace, considering. “Sir, if you stay here—”

“I'm not staying,” Mace says firmly, and pushes to his feet, just managing to catch himself as he sways. “Use me as a distraction. Put me in cuffs and tell Palpatine that you found me trying to sabotage the power grid.”

That, of all things, makes Fox hesitate, but after a moment he nods. “After that, we’re taking you somewhere secure and dumping you into the softest bed I can find,” he promises. “Sir.”

Mace won't object. He might even drag the three of them down with him, just for that little bit of extra safety. If they manage to kill Sidious, they’ll all deserve every bit of rest and safety they can get.

[On AO3]

#drunk drabble fills #my writing #macethirefoxstone #mace windu #commander thire #commander fox #commander stone #star wars

[phoenixyfriend]

Time-Traveled Clones Give Anakin a Mental Breakdown

So @purronronner​ suggested the below on discord:

mental time travel au but it’s only clones (definitely Cody and/or Rex, possibly others)

Which we obviously all took and just... ran with. Contributors include Purrs, @the-lunar-system, and @atagotiak.

Initial brainstorming was just us trying to figure out how many clones did the mental travel, from when, etc. - Ended up deciding on 'significantly post-O66' and 'some but not all' - Mostly it's the angle that the only people who have an idea of what’s coming are the ones who aren’t even seen as people by most. THey have very little leverage to work with but they’ve gotta do something.

(I personally like the idea that Boba travels because Jango has to deal with the fact that His Baby Boy is suddenly much more adult and serious and also telling him that the whole Kamino thing is going to Destroy Everything Including Mandalore, And Revenge Against The Jedi Won't Be Worth It, but that idea got scrapped because he's got too much influence via dad.)

Rex and the clones that died when Rex & Ahsoka were escaping 66. Because Rex would probably be very regretful he couldn’t save them. The others would probably be understanding of the situation and even worse some of them would be thankful that he stopped them. - Strategic mass desertion via faked KIA reports as medics smuggle people out to investigate what's trying to kill the Jedi through the clones - Also they can manage a lot by doing surgeries and reprogramming Med droids and stuff. At the very least Palpatine can’t manage such a sudden and decisive victory without subverting the clones. The political angle is probably still a complicated mess but he can’t just snap his fingers and do a genocide, y’know? - IMO at least Fives is definitely on the list of time-travelers.

The Krell Situation is, uh... handled. Quickly. - Sometimes friendly fire just happens, you know? Accidents.

Mass Distrust of Anakin Skywalker - He knows they don't like him but has no idea why. - On the one hand, they loved them some TCW Anakin. On the other hand, look where that takes him...

Anakin keeps feeling like the clones are mourning him while he's standing right there. More than the other Jedi, even! All the Jedi feel vague grief from some of the clones, usually in a way that makes no sense, but the vibe they have around Anakin is a mindfuck. - Some of them want to get away and fast, some of them want to figure out how to fix him, none of them are at all happy with this.

He does one of those somewhat concerning TCW things where Imperial March plays faintly in the background, and while in the first timeline the clones would write it off as him being a little bit angrier than most Jedi (and he never takes it out on them, y’know?), this time they’re reacting… poorly. - They're scared of him this time. - And lbr the clones... while they’re largely good, moral people, have less rigid ethical rules than the Jedi and are more used to thinking of things in terms of us-vs-them as well as the Jedi-know-best conditioning, so they probably wrote off a lot the first time around (and now blame themselves, just a little, for Vader).

They, uh, they maybe get a bit twitchy... and the specific fear a few of "Vader's Fist" feel is so similar to the fear Anakin sensed around slaves in Gardulla's that he starts having flashbacks. - Anakin at one point spirals so deep into a flashback that he mutters something about how "she" is going to eat him and nobody can figure out who the fuck he's talking about, because nobody knows about Gardulla, possibly not even Obi-Wan, since that was TODDLER Anakin and while Watto may have come up, Obi-Wan probably didn't even think Anakin would have remembered toddler-age stuff, so Gardulla was never really discussed. - All anyone knows is that Anakin is fine with Ahsoka, so it's not her, but she's the only person on board using she/her pronouns so far since none of the clones are socially transitioning yet. - (Apparently Gardulla just ate her slaves sometimes? And Anakin had to live with the knowledge that that was a possibility for him? Until he was three? Fucked up, bro.) - (I'm just really invested in AUs where Anakin's 'not going evil' path kicks off in part with a breakdown where he can't keep himself in denial about the slavery element of the clones anymore.)

"They're scared of me." "Sir--" "They're scared the way we all were at Gardulla's what did I do?"

This would be pretty soon after Return to Tatooine, and Tatooine Three: Electric Boogaloo so Anakin is like... peak slave trauma rn anyway.

Anakin has a breakdown much earlier than in canon, and in precisely the opposite direction, loudly and blatantly enough that the Temple has to ground him for a bit, and even Palpatine can't get that overturned until the medics say so. - Also one of the key points: Anakin doesn’t resent it in the same way. - It’s uh. Less. The “The Jedi are afraid of my power (and Palpatine says that’s why I can’t just do what I want)” and more “the clones are afraid of my power (arguably with good reason)”

people above you fearing (+ limiting) you: hits right in the slave trauma people under you fearing you: still slave trauma but flipped all the way around

This is just back to back: - Mom died because you couldn't save her, on Slave Planet - You slaughtered an entire tribe of Tuskens, including the children, and have been putting a lot of effort into convincing yourself you're not a monster - You got chained up and threatened with public execution via Consumed by Big Thing (and are abruptly reminded of toddlerhood, where you were at risk of being Consumed by Gardulla, a Big Thing) - Clone army, basically slaves, can't think about that too hard or you'll freak out - (Secret marriage, which is stressful but not hitting the slave trauma button.) - You had to save a baby Hutt -- You had to help a slaver Hutt -- ON SLAVE PLANET AGAIN -- WHILE THE HUTT IS THREATENING TO KILL YOU - (Someone just GAVE YOU A CHILD, which is stressful but not hitting the slave trauma button.) - Half the clones treat you like a more impuslive Obi-Wan, and half of them are... scared and wary and you don't know what to do about that - You did something kinda fucked up and now half the slaves clones are fine and the other half feel like they're waiting for you to kill them in your anger - Fuck - Fuck

#time travel #anakin skywalker #the clone wars #clones #star wars #Ahsoka Tano #slavery mention #Gardulla #Obi Wan Kenobi #Captain Rex #Fives #Phoenix Posts

[mangofetts]

star wars filthy headcanons

NSFW UNDER THE CUT!!

din djarin

HUGE breeding kink. this man loves to fill you to the brim. every mandalorian learns from a young age about the resol’nare and he wants to fulfill his duty as best he can. on the subject of this, he cums a lot, like an unhealthy amount. this comes from the mando race in general.

big bondage fan. loves to use the binders on you or tie you up with rope. he uses the magnetic binders so he can pin your hands above you and keep them there without him constantly making sure they’re there. also helps him relax and make sure that you don’t make any moves to take off his helmet while he’s not paying attention (not that you would, but he likes to make sure). he also likes pinning you with his body. loves gagging you as well.

cum play. since his load is big, it doesn’t stay in you for long so he likes to go back in with his fingers and plug your cunt so no more comes out. he loves facials and/or cumming on your chest, belly, and thighs. something about that just drives him crazy, seeing you marked with him. he also scoops the cum up and feeds it to you or even rubs it into your skin like it’s oil for a massage (he’ll clean you up real good if he does that don’t worry ;))

gun play. he likes when you’re helpless under him with his blaster to your forehead as he tells you to not move or make any noise. there have beens times where he fucks you on his blaster and makes you suck all your juices off of it. HE ALWAYS MAKES SURE THE CHAMBER IS EMPTY AND THE SAFETY IS ON BEFORE HE DOES THIS. he does not want to hurt you unless you want it and he would never shoot you.

control and authority kink. he likes to have control over you. likes to pull your strings and make you do whatever he says. even better if you’re a brat, he’ll just have to be rougher with you.

a dom/sub relationship, with you being the sub most of the time. you guys use a lot of bdsm elements. you don’t call him any names in bed unless he wants you to. it’s either mando or din.

cockwarming!! he likes to make sure that his cum stays inside of you and he likes the feeling of you around him.

praise kink both ways. he likes to praise you for taking him so well, for listening to him. and he likes to be praised because he wants to know what he’s doing is good. he’s been deprived of praise since he was little (the mandalorians are proud of him, just never showed it) so he needs it when he’s with you.

paz vizsla

once again, huge breeding kink for the same reasons as din. he also just loves kids and would like to have his own clan instead of looking after other foundlings. he also cums an inhuman amount.

DADDY KINK. he loves being your daddy in bed, especially when you’re nice and desperate for him. this also has to do with the breeding kink, just all around big daddy vibes.

body worship. people are often afraid of him and he blames it on how big he is. sometimes he needs someone to tell him he’s not frightening. he loves doing to same for you, complimenting you endlessly if you need some pick-me-ups or if he’s just in the mood (which is literally all the time.

cockwarming. after filling you up, he likes to clean you up, and then put his soft cock back inside of you so his cum stays inside of you. will usually end up in morning sex.

praise kink. he LOVES being praised by you. telling him that he’s so good, that he’s absolutely beautiful, and that he’s strong makes him PREEN. he tries to return the favor by praising you, but he stammers and stutters it out because he’s not used to saying stuff like that out loud.

size kink. this man is 6’3”, almost 6’6” with his armor on. he loves smaller people because they’re tiny and fragile and he could just crush them in the palm of his hand. he is THICK. 100% GRASS FED BEEF MY GUY. big tiddies, big arms, big guy in general. he is very blessed under the belt, his cock is inhumanly big. he likes to hold you down and make you take it. likes to watch you take it too. if you want to drive him crazy, make it look like you are absolutely struggling to take him; any form of that will make him keen. tell him that his cock is too big for you, that’s he’s so big and that he’s going to split you in half. he will break you and you won’t be able to walk for days.

definitely a voyeur. he likes watching you pleasure yourself. he also likes being watched, even more than you’d think.

likes when you play hard to get. like he’s a predator and your his pray. alas you won’t run very far, his legs are longer than yours, but it’s what he does that makes it worth it.

boba fett

control kink, this is pretty obvious. notorious bounty hunter. he likes having complete control over you. this leads into his bondage kink.

bondage, also likes using the binders on you, no rope though, just the binders. he likes to watch you struggles and they make pretty bruises on your wrists and ankles.

likes to mark you up, make sure everyone knows that you’re his. he doesn’t want to lose his baby now does he? bites and bruises all over your body from his mouth, hands, and sometimes his boots if you’re into that.

spanking as well, he likes to make sure that you stay in your place. he doesn’t like a brat; he knows how to tame one though!!

gunplay FOR THE WIN. likes to hold the gun to your head while he fucks you, sometimes puts it in your mouth. he likes to fuck you with it and make you suck the barrel of it off. LIKE I SAID BEFORE HE MAKES SURE THAT THE CHAMBER IS EMPTY AND THAT THE SAFETY IS ONE. also likes using vibroblades on you too.

likes to slap and pull your hair.

HE CANNOT BE GENTLE AT THE BEGINNING OF YOUR RELATIONSHIP. you have to sit him down and explain/convince him to take some scenes slow. once he gets the hang of it he likes slow sex. likes to revel in the pleasure.

definitely likes to tease. he likes seeing you desperate. loves keeping you wrapped around his finger.

darth maul

breeding kink, he wants you to get pregnant SO BAD. he really wants kids of his own. he LOVES coming in you and plugging your cunt with a toy.

cockwarming. something about having his cock in you relaxes him immensely. he likes having you in his lap while he works and you sleep (or squirm).

likes to sub AND dom. he likes being fucked and fucking. ruling mandalore is hard and sometimes he needs to give someone else control. usually the scene is you fucking him with your cock, or you fucking him with your hole. either way is a great time for him.

likes to hurt you, but only if you like it. most of it is lightsaber play and knife play. he likes watching you scream and writhe under him. one time he used the saber to carve his initials on your thigh. another way he likes to hurt you is digging his sharp horns into your inner thigh while he’s eating you out. he likes watching you flinch away from him.

praise kink. he is not what people picture when they think of a handsome man. so whenever you praise him is a nice time for him.

MASTER KINK. he likes being called this, it’s like he has an apprentice even though palpatine told him he was incapable of having one.

likes collars and harnesses. he likes letting people know that you’re his. plus your chest looks amazing in those harnessses.

DIRTY TALK AND PET NAMES. this man is one smooth motherfucker. he’ll call you princess/prince, baby, kitten, darling, sweetheart. he will whisper dirty things to you, just to get you riled up.

kylo ren/ben solo

the biggest dom AND sub you will ever see. he likes being fucked and fucking.

pain kink, if he’s subbing, he likes when you pull his hair, cut him with his pocket knife, burn him with his own lightsaber, or even you stepping on his dick. not too hard, you don’t want to damage his goods, but hard enough for it to be slightly painful. the thrill of it all makes him blow his load HARD. if he has any open wounds he likes to press on them so more blood comes out + it’s painful. scenes like these usually end with a short trip to the medbay. if he’s domming he will not hurt you, not even superficially. most of the pain comes from him pulling your hair and pushing you to your knees harshly.

praise kink. after everything that’s happened, he definitely wants some soft loving sometimes. he likes giving and receiving praise!! although it takes him a bit to get the words out since he never says those things out loud anywhere else.

also kind of has a master kink, but prefers to hear his name over that.

he takes almost all of his stress out in your sessions so he’s nice a pliable after a good fuck or two.

aftercare is HIGH TIER. he has a nice bed, you like to stretch out on it while he gets you a glass of water and a warm wet towel to clean you up. usually some back rubs as well.

he loves being degraded. being told that his dick is too small, or that he’s a slut, or even that he’s nothing gets him going like nothing else. any insults you throw at him will be met with a groan or a keen if it’s especially mean.

can absolutely go more than one round. his stamina IS CRAZY.

these are off of the top of my head lol

#star wars #din djarin #paz vizsla #boba fett #darth maul #kylo ren #ben solo #the mandolarian #din djarin x reader #paz vizsla x reader #boba fett x reader #darth maul x reader #kylo ren x reader #ben solo x reader #kylo ren smut #darth maul smut #paz vizsla smut #boba fett smut #din djarin smut #x reader

[transmalewife]

Alright, let's talk about attachment

I can’t find clear information on when exactly the non-attachment rule was added to the code. It was either soon before or soon after the great sith war. Either way, for the VAST majority of the existence of the Jedi, it wasn’t a thing. Jedi got married and had families for over 20000 years, then added the non-attachment rule, which ultimately led to their destruction. And before anyone tries to tell me I believe they deserved to be genocided, I don’t. I have never actually seen anyone say that, but I see people argue against it constantly, and imply anyone who doesn’t think the Jedi were perfect and blameless thinks that. I don’t think they deserved to die, I think they needed to change. And Yoda says that himself, many times. The Jedi weren’t prepared for the return of the sith, or the war. They had separated from the military 1000 years before, and the galaxy was in relative peace all this time, so the order’s role changed to one that worked very well with their rules. Detachment meant they could be impartial when overseeing political disagreements, lack of possessions meant they would be focused on the mission at hand and not prone to taking bribes, and distancing themselves from the general population meant they were more or less uniform, and could be trusted not to side with someone for personal reasons.

All of this falls apart once they become an army again. Impartiality is a flaw when they have to defend one side at all cost and not even allow themselves to consider compromise. Lack of possessions and attachment to people means they are prone to taking unnecessary risks, because they have nothing to lose, and do things like send 14 year olds into battle, thinking of the “greater good” over the safety of children. And the order being a monolith, with set rules and philosophy distinct from the rest of the population meant the Jedi trusted Dooku long after they should have stopped, because he used to be a Jedi after all, surely he still follows the code.

Now, I am not saying non-attachment is always bad, I think it served a very specific purpose in the order, and to some extent worked for many years. However.

Humans are a social species. Human babies NEED physical contact and affection to develop physically. Children need a stable, strong, and supportive relationship to their caregiver to properly develop psychologically. And after last year I don’t think anyone will argue that adults don't need connection with other people just as much. And not just shallow interactions, but open affection and love. Love of any kind, because claiming that the Jedi only forbid romantic love is just untrue. I think people tend to forget that "Compassion, which I would define as unconditional love, is essential to a Jedi's life. So you might say, that we are encouraged to love." isn’t the actual doctrine, it’s a literal pick up line that Anakin uses on Padme.

Ahsoka and Obi-Wan both get criticized by other Jedi for their entirely platonic attachment to Anakin, and vice versa. Now, humans are the most common species in the galaxy, and in the Jedi order. Many other species are near-human, so it’s safe to assume at least some, if not most of them also need that companionship and affection to develop and live happy and stable lives. I do believe that non-attachment is a valid philosophy and chosen path in life if done carefully and within reason, I just don’t think we have a single major character that actually applies to. And chosen is an important word here. Jedi don’t get much of a choice. I’m not trying to start the baby-stealing debate here. I hear the argument of ‘force sensitives are dangerous if left untrained, and said training should start as early as possible’. I think finding a way to deal with that problem was an insanely complicated decision, and taking children into the temple as young as possible is not a bad solution. I don’t entirely agree with not letting them see their families later, (especially since in legends Obi-Wan was allowed to visit his family, which implies Anakin couldn’t go free his mother specifically because he was already too attached), but the idea is sound. I do also understand that no one is forcing Jedi to stay in the order and they can leave for whatever reason at any time. But that isn’t exactly a free choice either. Leaving the order means leaving the only home you remember, the only people you know to make your own way in the galaxy, and staying with those people means you can never fully love them. It’s a difficult solution to a complicated question, and for the most part, it worked (not always, and not exactly as intended, but I’ll come back to that.) Children grew up in the order, were trained to control themselves and the force, and became Jedi who were impartial, patient, and balanced. But everything falls apart when you introduce someone who wasn’t raised in the temple.

In The Rising Force, 13 year old Obi-Wan had barely been off Coruscant in his life. He describes himself as sheltered and unaware of all the pain in the galaxy, and says it was done on purpose, so younglings wouldn’t have to face the dark side before they were ready for it. But Anakin had seen nothing but darkness, pain and injustice before he joined the order. He was severely traumatized, and while the temple might have had some ways of dealing with trauma and PTSD in adults, they had no experience in treating the same in a child, because their children were kept safe and protected. The idea of letting go of your pain and fear only works if you know you have a safe place to come back to, if you’ve spent the first decade or so of your life in the most protected place in the galaxy. Anakin spent the first decade of his life as a slave. He couldn’t let go of his fear, because fear was what kept him alive. Fear is not irrational if you are constantly in danger, it’s what protects you, keeps you aware of the limits you can push before you get punished. And that mindset doesn’t fade just because you’re out of that situation, especially if your only family, the closest person to you, is still facing that danger every day.

I’ve seen people use every excuse possible to explain why Anakin didn’t see his mother again to avoid blaming the council, including, and I shit you not, “He just didn’t have her comm number”. But to me that seems disingenuous, when we see in his first meeting with the council that they already consider him too attached. It's one of the main reasons they don’t want him to be trained, so it seems logical that they wouldn’t allow him to see her once he became a padawan. I also want to mention that what Yoda says, “Fear is the path to the dark side. Fear leads to anger, anger leads to hate, hate leads to suffering.” Is just… blatant catastrophizing. Right? Like we can all see that the escalation is not rational there at all. Maybe it could apply to something else, but not to a child who just left his mother for the first time in his life and went from a tiny dustball in the middle of nowhere to the most populated planet in the galaxy, and is now being tested by a bunch of old people with the power to decide his future. Obviously he’s afraid, and obviously he’s not dealing with it the way Jedi younglings do. That, in and of itself doesn't doom him to fall. Also what Yoda misses there is that suffering leads to fear. This is a closed loop, and one that has defined Anakin’s entire childhood.

Let’s come back to how the system doesn’t always work. The way I see it, most of the characters we see are attached. Obi-Wan is considered one of the greatest Jedi of his time. Windu describes him as “our most cunning and insightful Master—and our most tenacious”. And yet, he was not insightful enough to look past his love for Anakin, his attachment, and see how close to falling he was. Ahsoka was so attached to Anakin she refused to listen to Maul on Mandalore, refused to even consider the posibility he could fall. She was arguably the person with the best shot at preventing the empire forming at that point, and she loved anakin so much she doomed him and the entire galaxy. Aayla admitted to thinking of Quinlan as her father, and also, apparently in legends had a long relationship with Kit. Even Mace didn’t follow the code when he decided to kill Palpatine, which directly led to his death and the empire. He also indirectly caused the war to start. According to wookiepedia “Windu viewed Dooku as the shatterpoint of the entire Separatist movement, which meant striking Dooku down would theoretically end the imminent clone war before it even began. However, Windu's prior attachments to Dooku clouded his judgment.” I’m not even going to mention Kanan and Ezra, who are obviously family.

So basically everyone is attached and lying about it. How has no one thought that maybe this isn’t the healthiest way to live and tried to change the code? Well, I have a theory, and it’s Yoda. He was 900 years old when he died, and was on the council for the vast majority of his life. I can’t find when exactly he became grand master, but it’s safe to assume he held some degree of power over the entire order for most of a millennium. At the end of TPM he tells Obi-Wan “Confer on you the level of Jedi knight, the council does. But agree with your taking this boy as your padawan learner, I do not.” Then he reverses that decision by himself. So either he has the power to veto the council’s word, or who gets trained is entirely up to him. Either way, not great, considering his lifespan is so much longer than most Jedi, and therefore his approach to life is vastly different. Humans need love and closeness to live. However, while we don’t know much about Yoda’s species, it probably isn’t a social one. You could count all the characters of this species on two (human) hands, and Yoda lived in complete isolation for 20 years on Dagobah, and only went a little bit insane. They are naturally rare, and therefore probably lead solitary lives in nature. Moreover, Yoda outlived every master who trained him, and almost every padawan he trained himself, (there’s a great post about that here) so even if he wasn’t naturally predisposed to non-attachment, he would have had to learn it to deal with all the loss he had to live through over the years.

A lot of people think that Anakin fell because he had attachments, which is not true. He fell because of how his attachments played out and/or ended. The most obvious example being Palpatine, who used Anakin’s trust and friendship to groom him for over a decade and actively undermine Anakin’s trust towards anyone else, especially the order. (more on that here). Obi-Wan refused to take on the role of a father figure that Anakin tried to shove him into, so he turned to someone who did accept it. It’s not Anakin’s fault that it turned out to be the worst person alive, nor can we expect him to notice when he’s known Palpatine since he was a child. Another failure of jedi non-attachment, because a loving parent or guardian would not let their child be used as a bargaining chip when the most powerful politician in the galaxy blackmailed the order into allowing him to meet Anakin regularly, but a distant teacher and detached knight thinking of the greater good might. The other attachments Anakin had were taken from him (Shmi and Ahsoka, the last orchestrated by Palpatine who was fully ready to give her the death penalty to make Anakin more unstable), or he was forced to lie and hide them, compromising his vows as a Jedi (Padme) or refused to choose Anakin over the order/their principles (Obi-Wan, and again Ahsoka, and to some extent Padme, but he’d already fallen then). All these people had every right to make the choices they made, but it wasn’t the act of loving them that made Anakin turn to the dark side, it was how those attachments played out.

I think everyone agrees that Yoda is as detached as a Jedi should, if not can, be, and that didn’t prevent Dooku from falling. We see that explored in more detail with Barriss and Luminara. Luminara is detached and distant, she’s fond of Barriss, but their relationship is not familial in the slightest, and she repeatedly shows her willingness to put the greater good and the mission before Barriss’ safety and even life. And yet Barriss still falls. A complex combination of events and choices caused each of those characters to fall, not the simple presence or absence of attachment.

And lastly, just as attachment can make you unstable if your relationship with that person is unstable, it can also make you stronger. There is a reason Anakin and Obi-Wan were the face of the army. Not only did their obvious attachment (the strongest between two jedi we are shown) make them more relatable to the public, but they, when working as a team, are shown repeatedly to be more or less undefeatable. They spend half of aotc flinging themselves off great heights because they know the other will be there to catch them. They know from years of experience that they have backup and they know each other well enough (or force bond communicate) that they can trust the other will be where he needs to be to help/save them. Contrast that to how Windu and Palpatine fight in rots once the window breaks- very carefully, clearly holding back to keep themselves safe. Neither of them has backup until Anakin arrives, but until the last second they can't be sure which one he will choose. Anakin and Obi-Wan fight the same way on Mustafar, especially when balancing on that thin bridge. No acrobatics, swinging arms to keep balance, keeping their distance, being almost uncharacteristically careful compared to how they treated heights in aotc, in tcw, and on the invisible hand in rots, because they both know the other won't catch them if they fall this time.

#star wars meta #attachment #star wars #anakin skywalker #obi wan kenobi #yoda #jedi order #mine

[fictionadventurer]

I hope it's okay to come in here with a random out-of-the-blue ask, but I know you like the New Trilogy of Star Wars, and... well, I was just wondering if there's anything you didn't like or think was done poorly? I don't want to make a fuss, and you can delete my ask if you want. I just got the thought in my head, and I wanted to know, that's all :)

I never mind random out-of-the-blue asks. Thanks for asking!

The short answer is that I dislike the vast majority of stuff about the Sequel Trilogy. As a whole, it's a soulless, cash-grabbing mistake. Star Wars has never been a good franchise, but it's a creative one. As bad as some of the stuff in the previous movies was, you still got the sense that this was George Lucas' creative vision, sometimes weird and objectively terrible, but personal. This is Star Wars made by committee, Star Wars not as a story, but as a franchise that fails to tell any meaningful story at all.

The Force Awakens, while derivative, introduced some amazing characters and an intriguing potential story, and it's the reason I got into Star Wars in the first place. The Last Jedi is a movie with some of the best imagery and character arcs in the franchise, and some themes that are extremely important to me personally, so I'll always have a special love for it. But The Rise of Skywalker is where it all falls irreparably apart, to the extent that I don't think Disney can tell any more stories set around or after the Sequel Trilogy. This is where it becomes clear that there was no plan. This series was all promise with no payoff. All those intriguing threads in The Force Awakens were just bait to make us pay for more movie tickets. Anything interesting and new and personal that The Last Jedi did was ignored in favor of a million new plots and characters.

To be honest, when you sent the ask, I'd never watched Episode IX. I saw the reviews and the spoilers and never bothered. I watched it just now for the sake of answering this ask, figuring that if I was going to tear apart the trilogy based on this movie, I'd better actually watch the movie for myself. That's two hours of my life I'll never get back. I can't think of a movie that's been more painful for me to watch. It's just two hours of stuff happening--images and words thrown together almost at random, with no plot logic or character coherence at all. Leia's lines are clearly just copy-pasted into scenes based on what they had from leftover footage, and it feels like the whole movie was constructed that way--just bits and pieces that they had lying around that someone pasted together into a two-hour collage.

I can't even coherently explain what's so bad about this movie. It's easier to list the few things I did like.

The first couple of minutes, with Kylo Ren's lightsaber stuff, was cool-looking and interesting. It reminded me of what I like about the sequel trilogy and made me think for a very short while that perhaps this movie wasn't going to be as bad as its reputation.

Poe and Rey bickering when he gets back to the planet. It makes no sense that he thinks it's dumb for her to be training as a Jedi, but the bickering about how to handle the ship and BB-8 showed a bit of personality and gave them a slightly interesting dynamic.

"Somehow, Palpatine returned" being delivered with Oscar Isaac's most dead-eyed "my career is over" look was even funnier than it is in the gifs.

The snow on that one planet was cool. I'm used to Star Wars only having snow on snow-planets. This was just a light dusting, which made for a different look, with the light sparkle adding visual interest to an otherwise typical set.

That hairdryer droid was adorable.

That little alien hacker dude was interesting, too.

Hux as the spy had potential for, like, five seconds.

That moment when Ren takes the necklace from Rey.

The chalk dust cannons.

The fact that they meet other First Order defectors.

Ben's talk with Han mirroring his moment in the first movie.

The moment when Rey's lightsaber appears in Ben's hand.

The moment when Ben brings Rey back to life. They look at each other and for, like, five seconds, I actually believe in them as a romantic couple. But only for those five seconds.

And that is absolutely it. Every interesting moment in that movie was never followed through on. We just moved on to another random plot point or another five new characters or another ten new spaceships and never built on anything or had any connection to anything whatsoever. I'd say this was like kids playing a game with their toys, except that is an insult to all kids everywhere. At least kids have passion for their stories, and this movie has none.

Star Wars is based upon movie serials, but it was never really a serialized story. Each movie told its own story. Each movie gave you the information you needed to connect to the characters and understand the story they were in. Those movies had us connect to the characters and then be surprised by a twist. This series promised us a twist while never telling us who the characters actually were, and when we did find out, it meant nothing because we never really connected to these characters or their story. It's just empty, all smoke and mirrors with nothing of substance.

This trilogy had amazing casting, some very promising characters, gorgeous visuals, all thrown into a pointless story. And that's really a shame, because it could have been better if anyone had really cared.

#star wars #the rise of skywalker #answered asks #long-live-the-gobop #this is one of the worst meta posts i've written but i just don't have anything better to say #my brain cells have all been destroyed by that movie #i want to watch the prequels just to refresh myself with something that has more substance and soul #that's how bad this was

[thewriterowl]

Okay, but thanks to that, now I need some of your wonderful comments on Anakin being raised by Qui Gon.

Of course Shmi is free so Anakin has one less trauma.

And Qui Gon has always been a maverick so maybe Anakin would have felt more comfortable talking to him about his feelings for Padme, or for Obi Wan if we want to make it Obikin?

It is such a cute idea, honestly. Can you imagine what things would be like? Maybe even an AU that takes place earlier in the galaxy, Qui-Gon (let's be fair, was not always the best Master to Obi-Wan) goes on his own mission to Tatooine and finds Shmi and four-year-old Anakin. Qui-Gon knows this boy is important, vital even, to the balance of the Force and is very aware of the possibility that this may be the Chosen One of prophecy.

Now, he knows that the Council will probably agree (Anakin is of a decent age to start--though still a little bit older than what they'd prefer to help with fear) but decides to just do the Qui-Gon thing and go, "ya know what? I'll just stay here for a bit."

He sends the council info and whatnot and they all just bury their heads into their hands because, of course, Qui-Gon is going to do this. They all blame Dooku (who is on his homeward now trying to lead it and goes, "HE IS NOT MY FAULT") and then blame Yoda.

Poor Obi-Wan feels a bit rejected but who better to swoop in and make things better for a poor child? Heeeere comes papa Plo! So, Obi-Wan gets yoinked by Master Plo and continues on with his training.

Back on Tatooine, Qui-Gon works up a lot of credits and buys Shmi and Anakin and then gets them their own place, letting Shmi begin to focus on doing things she likes and she is good at and takes on other missions and such so they can survive--but he really gets to training Anakin. It is through all this that he begins to become close to them. And soon, he and Shmi decide to get married and he officially raise Anakin as his own.

Anakin thrives...and is so feral. Qui-Gon really supports his need for speed and helps him build all sorts of machinery to help around the house, to help with the farming, and to go hella fast. Cause an Anakin Skywalker, no matter the universe, needs to zoom.

He does win the podrace at nine and earns even more credits to help support his family. He is also becoming incredibly powerful in the Force...and a massive brat. But no surprise.

Eventually, Obi-Wan and Plo are brought to Naboo to discuss why there is a start of an attack, and then they save a queen and her handmaidens and find themselves on Tatooine...where they find a familiar Jedi.

Anakin is infatuated with both Obi-Wan and Padme. Qui-Gon is just being a little shit. And Shmi is wonderful and serves them all tea. Finally, they are convinced that they need to return to Coruscant and Shmi comes along.

Qui-Gon faces what he has done with a shrug, as usual, and says he is married but wishes to stay a Jedi.

The council is holding their heads again.

There is a lot of issues, as no, him being married and training Anakin isn't really ok...but they will work on more details later as the queen really needed to get back to her people and there was something uncomfortable happening they could all sense.

Shmi gets a nice apartment by the temple, just hanging out without issues as it is decided whether Qui-Gon and Anakin can be Jedi or not.

Mace begs them to say no...he cannot handle a second Qui-Gon. Yoda wants to cause problems.

Lots of things happen as before and maybe Qui-Gon survives? This can be an actual happy AU where Anakin grows up over-powered and a Jedi, but has his mom, dad, and wife and Obi-Wan (Whatever Obi is to him lol I am open for all) and the Clones are made but because Anakin cannot be groomed, Palpatine is having struggles in finding someone else (Dooku is just too busy here because now Qui-Gon won't leave him alone) and gets sloppy.

Fox is the one who gets to kill him :D

The war does not get too bad, so Din lives well with his parents and Grogu hangs out at the Temple but somehow manages to either get kidnapped or escapes to Aq Vetina and clumsy, novice Luke Skywalker goes to save him and finds a big man who now adores Grogu, and who Grogu adores back, and is in trouble.

Mace still hates everyone (except Luke and Leia; they're the only blessing from this mess he will say--especially since Leia is his padawan and is a menace to everyone but him).

#owl inbox

[enigmatist17]

Clone Wars, but the war ends because both armies become friends as they fight, and eventually just refuse to kill each other.

It's starts small, a clone not shooting the last droid, a wounded clone being allowed to run from a droid battalion who find it a bit sad to kill someone who can't fight back. Small things that don't generate much at first.

A commander that doesn't get executed by an order stirs a lot of attention, and the droids that had held him hostage message for a small meeting on an neutral moon.

They return his stripped armor, and in return, some splicers are kind enough to give some of the droids a software update before they part ways.

The news spreads like a fire within the GAR and CIS armies alike, and they begin to question.

Why did they need to kill each other exactly?

It snowballs from there, and with the help from droids that could calculate and process information faster than a clone, the information of the chips and the rigged war comes out before Sidious can stop it.

Battles go from death and destruction, to both sides just sitting planet-side while the natborns of said planet and Jetti talk.

The droids learn about the culture that the clones have made their own from all sorts of different bits and pieces they've learned, and in return the clones see that the droids have their own individuality that was not seen at the beginning. Both sides had been taught to hate from decanting/first activation, and to learn that some droids like to sing, and clones that could paint with the most vivid colors a droid has ever seen?

Kind of ruins the whole "they only want your death" programming they've had.

Seeing a battered clone sitting with his arm around a droid that is just as battered, trying to talk each other after fighting a non droid/clone enemy awakens something in both armies.

They both defect one day, and the Jedi just happen to let a planet outside the reach of both sides come up as the first viable option. Factories are taken, and Kamino is raided for the tubies and cadets, stopping either side from creating more fodder for a broken war.

The War ends a few months later when Palpatine is killed, and both armies just kind of stay on their planet for a while, not wanting to deal with all the people they had fought for who had never cared.

I dunno, just a cute idea that popped in my head

#personal #star wars #the clone wars #clone wars #star wars the clone wars #swtcw

[sabxism]

Never Have I Ever

Pairing: Poe Dameron x Reader

Word count: 2k

Warnings: none besides Rose and Finn being conspiratorial little shits

Summary: You've always been too nervous to tell Poe how you feel. A night out after the end of the war may change that.

It feels surreal, to put it simply. It’s over. It’s finally over. For years, you’ve known nothing but chaos and panic and uncertainty. But now, you can leave all of it in the past. Palpatine’s gone. The war’s over.

Leaping from your x-wing, you spot Poe across the tarmac. He locks eyes with you, breaking into a huge, beaming grin. You sprint towards him, sporting an equally bright expression. He holds out his arms, and you leap into them. He spins around as you bury your face in his neck, laughing. He sets you down, placing his hands on your upper arms.

“We did it,” he breathes, and you nod in disbelief.

“We did it,” you repeat, still smiling. You’re about to compliment a particular barrel roll he’d pulled off earlier when Finn comes barreling over, wrapping him in a bear hug. You smile, walking away to grab some water and allow Poe some time with his friend.

He watches your retreating form with a faint smile, content with the universe for the first time in years. Finn looks at him with a knowing expression and nudges him with his elbow. Poe snaps his head around, cheeks flushed.

“You should tell her,” he says, and Poe’s eyes widen.

“No way,” he replies, carding a hand through his hair. “What if I fuck everything up?” Finn rolls his eyes.

“Poe, I love you, but you’re the most oblivious man I’ve ever met.” This earns him a shocked expression from the older man, and he laughs. “Trust me. Just tell her.” Poe opens his mouth to object, but loses what he was going to say as Rey walks up and wraps him and Finn in a hug.

You watch as the three embrace, smiling. You’re so proud of Poe your chest could burst. He’d handled that last battle with the grace and strategy you’ve seen in him time and time again. You hear footsteps headed your way and glance up, to find Rose standing next to you.

“Hey,” she says quietly, and you scooch to the left a bit to give her space to sit, patting the bench next to you. “It’s crazy, huh?”

“Yeah,” is all you can manage, but you can tell that she understands the magnitude of emotions contained in your reply. No words could encapsulate the feeling of joy and relief flowing through you.

“I heard Poe did some pretty amazing flying out there.”

You grin, nodding. “He really did. Per the usual, of course.” Smiling, she takes in the look of admiration on your face.

“You like him.” Not a question, just a statement. An observation. You look at her slowly and nod.

“I do,” you say, taking a sip of water from the canteen in your hand.

“He likes you, I think. From what Finn’s told me.” You splutter, choking on your drink.

“What?” you exclaim, face turning red as a tomato as you cough. She laughs loudly, and you shoot her a death glare. “If you’re pulling my leg I swear-”

“I’m not, I promise.”

Narrowing your eyes, you swallow another mouthful of water. “What exactly has Finn told you?”

“He’s caught Poe staring at you too many times to count, that damn idiot never shuts up about you, and once Rey saw him fiddling with his mom’s ring behind his back while talking to you,” she lists, ticking off the instances on her fingers.

“That doesn’t mean he likes me,” you point out, and Rose sighs. Ignoring her, you continue. “He could’ve just been spacing out, we’re friends, so he’s bound to talk about me, and he just has a thing about not being able to sit still. Those are just...normal Poe things.”

“What are?”

You whip your head around, to see him standing right behind you. Of course.

“Nothing,” you reply calmly, glowering at Rose as she tries to contain her laughter. “Just talking about that maneuver you did earlier. Very impressive.” He grins, clapping you on the shoulder.

“Thanks,” he laughs. “Anyways, we’re headed out to celebrate-” he gestures to Finn, Rey, and his squadron. “-would you guys wanna come?”

Rose nods excitedly, and you do the same. “Sounds awesome.”

The music in the bar pounds in your ears. Normally, you hate crowded, public settings like this - they stress you out. However, you decide to make a special exception for tonight. After all, you just saved the fucking galaxy.

Poe, expectedly, makes a beeline for the bar with Jess. They order several rounds of shots and bring the drinks back to the table the rest of you are sitting at. He slides into his spot next to you, his thigh brushing against yours.

“Ok,” he says loudly, so your group can hear him over the clamor of the establishment. “Never have I ever - pretty simple,” he adds when Rey shoots him a look of confusion. “We’ll go around the table. Someone will say something. If you’ve done what they say, you take a shot. Snap, you go first.”

“Ok, uh, never have I ever gone on a supply run hungover,” he replies, grinning. Poe groans, taking a shot. You gasp as Finn does, too.

“No!” you say, aghast.

“It was one time!” he shouts in defense of himself, and Rey chuckles.

“He threw up within the hour,” Rose says, and you snicker. Finn kicks the mechanic under the table.

“Alright, settle down,” Jess says, clearing her throat. She shoots a pointed glance at Karé. “Never have I ever flirted with a superior officer to get a different assignment.” The woman sighs, pouring liquor into her mouth. Blushing, you do the same. Poe gapes at you.

“You’re kidding me.”

“It wasn’t here,” you admit. “Navy stuff.” Snap laughs as he recalls the event you’re talking about. “I was about to get assigned janitorial duty for the seventh week in a row, so I insinuated some very...” you pause, grinning. “inappropriate things to my commander. He put me on guard duty on the bridge instead.”

A strange feeling flares in Poe’s chest as you and the others laugh about how flustered the officer had gotten, and his knuckles turn white as he clenches the table. You discreetly nudge his leg with your knee.

“You okay?” you ask quietly, and any jealousy he’s feeling melts away as he takes in the concern in your eyes.

“Yeah,” he nods. You smile.

“Cool.”

“Okay, okay,” Karé laughs, shooting a death glare at Jess. “Rose. Your turn.” She smiles conspiratorily at Finn, who nods at her, before glancing at you briefly. You send a befuddled look towards Rey, who simply shakes her head, shrugging.

You have a bad feeling about this.

“Never have I ever…” she trails off, scratching her chin animatedly. “Had a crush on a close friend.”

Your stomach drops. Rose giggles as she feels you tense up beside her.

“Fuck you,” you say, throwing back a shot. A barrage of gasps sounds from your friends. “Oh, grow up,” you laugh, and Finn chuckles. You glare at him, and he raises his hands in surrender. Slowly, Poe leans forward, grabs a shot, and knocks it back. You barely constrain your shock.

“Oh my gods WHO?” Karé squeals, clapping her hands together.

“That’s not part of the game,” Poe quips, offering her a smug expression. She turns hopefully to you, and you laugh.

“No way,” you say, shaking your head. She sticks her bottom lip out in a pout, before letting her mouth fall open.

“Is it someone here?” she asks breathlessly. You clear your throat, face heating.

“I’m gonna go get some fresh air,” you murmur, slipping out of the booth. Karé and Jess boo loudly at your excuse, but you just flip them off as you head outside.

A light breeze tangles its fingers in your hair and tugs at your shirt, small ripples moving along the fabric. You take a seat on a nearby bench, bringing your legs up and crossing them over each other. Fiddling with a loose thread on your sleeve, you glance upwards. The sky above is littered with small pinpricks of light, twinkling back at you.

A creaking noise sounds to your right, and you look back, to see the door to the bar open. You watch as Poe walks through it, puffing his top lip out and shoving his hands in his pockets. He glances in your direction. You offer him a small wave, which he returns, making his way over to where you sit.

“May I?” he asks, and you nod, turning your gaze upwards once more. He does the same, laying an arm across the back of the bench.

“I wonder how many of those we’ve flown by,” he wonders aloud, motioning to the countless stars and planets above you.

“Probably lots. We really went all over, huh?” He smiles, nodding. You stand, walking to the gate in front of the bar and leaning on it. Poe follows suit, bracing his forearms behind him as he leans back.

“Look, it’s stupid of me to ask, and you don’t have to answer, but...who was it?” You turn your head toward him, puzzled. He nods to the bar. “The game. That last question.” You scoot closer to him, leaning your head on his shoulder. The familiar gesture makes him smile.

“Eh, you don’t wanna know,” you say, and he chuckles.

“Oh, but I do.” You laugh. There’s a moment of silence (not uncomfortable - it never is with Poe) as you figure out how to word your next statement.

“It’s a bit complicated,” you admit, and he turns his head to look down at you.

“Oh?”

“I really like this person, but I also love how close I am with them right now. I’m worried that if they know, that…” you trail off, worried that voicing your concerns will bring them to fruition.

“That everything will change,” Poe finishes quietly. You swallow nervously. “That you could lose them, and you don’t know-” he takes a deep breath “-you don’t know what you would do if that happened.” You turn to face him as he leans up to stand straight, heart pounding in your chest so loud you swear he can hear it. His eyes flit down to your lips momentarily, and your breath hitches.

“Poe,” you say, barely above a whisper. His eyes lock onto yours, and you bite the inside of your cheek.

You open your mouth to continue, but your words die in your throat as he takes your face in his hands. Your whole body goes rigid, and he notices, starting to pull away. Panicking, you place your hands over his, silently reassuring him that it’s ok. He smiles softly, and your cheeks warm.

“Can I kiss you?” he murmurs, and you nod, heart racing. He brings his mouth down to yours tentatively, nose brushing against yours. You smile against his lips, bringing a hand up and burying it in his curls. He fits his hands to your waist, thumb gently brushing over your side. His lips taste like the tequila you’d both taken shots of in the bar, and it’s sweet on your tongue, reminding you of the nectar from the sapflowers back home on Naboo.

The two of you break apart, hot breaths mingling in the small space between you.

“You have no idea,” he murmurs, smile as bright as a thousand suns, “how long I’ve wanted to do that.” His grin widens as you grow flustered, mouth twisting into a small smile.

“I’m sorry I didn’t tell you sooner,” you say, eyebrows furrowing together. “I didn’t want to mess everything up, and there just wasn’t a good-”

“Hey,” he says gently, taking your hand. “It’s ok, you have nothing to be sorry for.” You smile.

“I really like you,” you say, and he laughs warmly, bringing a hand to your cheek.

“I really like you, too,” he responds, and you lean into the touch. “We should probably head back in, or they’re gonna think we abandoned ship.”

“Sounds like a plan,” you say.

Nobody says anything if they notice how you and Poe hold hands for the rest of the night, sitting closer than you usually do, talking only to each other.

It seems natural, if anything. Like it’s always been that way. Like it’s how it should be.

taglists (open):

permanent: @staarshines

#poe dameron #poe dameron fic #poe dameron x reader #poe dameron / reader #poe dameron fluff #poe dameron angst #star wars #star wars fic #star wars fluff #star wars angst #poe dameron fanfic #poe dameron fanfiction #poe dameron x you #poe dameron / you #fluff

[this-acuteneurosis]

Bail is going to be taking care of Leia for the next bit and I just want him to do something soft and caring and Leia just slips and calls him Papa. They are alone, so no one else knows and he doesn't call attention to it.

But 10 minutes later he is comming Breha and opens with "honey, we're fighting Padme and Shmi for custody of my new child"

And then they sneakily take care of her and it works because Leia probably has blind spots for her parents. Everyone is very impressed Bail can actually send her to bed without trickery.

So, back when I was delusional about how long this whole story was going to be and I thought I would only ever have things from Leia's POV, I would write snippets from other POVs when I got stuck to get me back in the universe, so to speak. This is not a preview of the upcoming chapter, and if it makes it into the story at all will need lots of reworking because the themes and focus are off, but...

Bail POV for you, anon:

Bail leaned back in his chair, watching the interplay between his colleague and her friend and trying not to smile. It wouldn't earn him any points if either of them looked up and noticed.

Leia was viciously taking apart Padmé's speech on banking regulations with a brutal efficiency that left him stunned. It wasn't that he thought she was better than Padmé, or was adding new knowledge. Rather, every word and phrase seemed to slip out of her mouth in Padmé's cadence, making it impossible sometimes to recognize which one of them was actually speaking.

She was reconstructing Padmé’s speech to make it sound more like Padmé, and Bail was tremendously impressed.

"I'm just not sure I can get away with it," Padmé said after several rounds of bickering, rubbing her forehead. "I'm starting to get a reputation for being offensive."

"If they're going to let the Trade Federation open their mouths at all, they'd better let you get away with this," Leia said, pointing sharply at the datapad.

"I have to agree with her," Bail said, reminding them he was also in the room. Padmé looked interested, but Leia seemed stiff.

He'd used to think it was personal. Now he was sure it definitely was.

"You have to?" Padmé asked when he didn't immediately continue, her eyebrows going up.

Bail coughed. "Yes. I know it's not making people comfortable, but there are dangers in being conciliatory. I've already seen it as I go back through my own speeches, or ones by our friends. We're slipping into their verbiage, letting them dictate the flow of the conversation. If there was ever a time to pick a fight, it's now, before we accidentally become one of them."

He saw the effect his words had on his friend, her brows furrowing and her hand coming up so she could tap her finger against her lips.

But it was Leia's reaction he was really watching for. She was much more subtle and had long ago become a person he desperately wanted to read.

She’d thought he was her father once, when he'd caught her sleeping on her desk and startled her. It had surprised him almost as much as the tenderness in that sleepy smile. It was the most endearing thing he had ever seen from someone other than Breha, and he'd wished he could return it to her, tenfold.

"I'm still not sure about it," Padmé said, breaking the silence before Bail could catch any sign of Leia's thoughts. "But I know… I know the message is right."

Tapping the datapad a few times, Leia said, "Who are you thinking about, when you're thinking of your audience?"

"Well, the Senate," Padmé gave a crooked smile.

Leia's head cocked, which was one sign Bail did recognize. "What would you be saying if it wasn't the Senate? If it was your people?"

Padmé blinked. “I—“ She looked down at the datapad, flipped it around and scanned through it. Her hands hesitated for a moment, and suddenly she was moving, making adjustments in short bursts, lips moving as she read them, and then typing another burst of thought.

Leia leaned against the couch, one arm draped across the back, smiling slightly. She turned a little and Bail smiled back at her, hoping he conveyed his gratitude.

Padmé had been struggling recently. He didn't know why, but he was glad he wasn't the only one to help see her through it.

Leia's answering smile was sharp and confident. She knew what her friend could do. Wanted to see her do it.

"I never stop getting surprised by her," Bail said to Leia after Padmé had left the room to compare notes with Senator Chuchi, stopping Leia before she could also leave. "I'm glad for who she's turning out to be."

Leia watched him from the corner of her eyes. "You had your doubts?"

"I did," he answered seriously. "She was first brought here as a youth legislator, and I really didn't get to know her then. But the Chancellor brought her here during the Trade Federation blockade, and almost her first act on the senate floor was to call for no confidence in Chancellor Vellorum, who had been Naboo's ally. It was… concerning."

"Especially when then Senator Palpatine took the chancellorship?" Leia's tone was delightfully dry.

"Especially then," Bail agreed. "Although, when she didn't stay to support him for his nomination and instead went home, back to her people, I began to have the idea she didn't realize—“

He hesitated.

"That she'd been used," Leia finished, frowning. "Did you tell her?"

"No," Bail admitted. "I assumed she had figured it out when she decided not to join any of his delegations. And I wanted her to know she was completely welcome in ours, so I don't bring it up."

There was a brief pause before, "Maybe you should."

She was right. He knew she was right. But after all this time… "It's just hard to say. She takes things so personally when she feels she's made a mistake."

"She does," Leia agreed, "but that's why she need to learn how to deal with it."

He caught the echo of uncertainty in her voice, and smiled. "Does someone have to keep reminding you of that?"

"Maybe a bit." Her mouth was smiling, but her eyes weren't and Bail hadn't meant any offense.

"Well, keep reminding me," he said. "I need it for her and myself."

That was a real smile this time, and Bail relaxed a bit. "I'll do my best."

"I have every confidence of that," he told her, and was delighted when Leia blushed.

#Don't Look Back #ficlet #sort of #Bail Organa #Leia Skywalker #Padmé Amidala

[tennessoui]

Hi miss Kit! So um, I'm not the anon who had the idea about the Pokemon obikin AU but I saw that you're still looking for a prompt so I did some brainstorming?

Obviously Anakin is aiming to be a Pokemon Master which is why he'll have to fight the elite four eventually. Which is not an easy task despite what the games might imply! So what if, despite breezing through the gyms before, beating Team Rocket and having a team that is powerful and adores him, he still fails his first attempt at the league.

I remember Prof Oak telling your rival after you beat him in gen 1 that he lost to you because he doesn't love his Pokemon enough which is bullsh*t!! But must surely be a cutting remark.

So ofc he goes to caretaker!Obi-Wan afterwards because he is a former Pokemon trainer so how has he dealt with loss before? Does Anakin really not love his team enough? Bonus points if Obi has challenged the league before (and won??)

I just realized that this is way too angsty for the Pokemon universe >.< everything is nice and soft here

alright!!!!!! finally!!! here is that pokémon au, a bastardization of this prompt and @sinhalbutnoangst 's prompt "24: Right before a passionate/first kiss & 16: “There’s nothing to be scared of, okay? I’m right here.” For a Pokémon AU !!!"

I hope y'all both enjoy or at least find parts to be happy about!!!

(fair warning i don't know a lot about pokémon so who knows how accurate this is at ALL)

(3.3k)

(i've linked each pokémon name with their pokedex picture just so everyone knows what they look like. no need to read the descriptions or anything)(god knows i didn't half the time)

Obi-Wan is in the water, tending to a shy gyarados a trainer had left behind as a Magikarp a few months ago, when on the shore his flareon raises its muzzle and barks loudly. That’s her signal that someone’s arrived at the Daycare center proper. Obi-Wan furrows his eyebrows, as he strokes his hand down the gyarados' side.

“I always tell them to call ahead,” he mutters as the pokemon nudges closer for more attention. “Why do they never call ahead?”

Gyarados knocks him hard in the arm. It’s clear she wants more pats, but business calls.

“Would you mind terribly taking me back to shore, dear?” Obi-Wan asks politely. It’d be faster than swimming all the way there, and it would strengthen the Pokémon's connection with humans.

On the shore, Flareon bounds around in a circle, tail flickering back and forth. It must be someone she recognizes the scent of. A regular then. That means Obi-Wan can take his time getting back to the counter to greet them, but he probably shouldn’t show up dripping wet in only a pair of swim trunks.

Luckily, Gyarados gives him a lift, bellowing mournfully to be left alone again when Obi-Wan alights onto the sand. When her trainer comes back to pick it up, Obi-Wan has half a mind to offer to buy her from them. No one who actually cares about their pokemon would leave a magikarp to become a gyarados under the care and instruction of someone else.

But becoming known as the Daycare Runner who gets attached to Pokémon and tries to keep them is perhaps a serious threat to his business as a whole. And he’s already done that too many times.

No, the best thing to do is to wait for the trainer to come back and sit them down to give them a serious talk about their Pokémon’s emotional needs. They’re probably young. Most trainers are these days. On some level you have to be in order to have the energy to travel as much as you do, to sleep on the ground more nights than not.

Yes, they’re probably young, and more focused on gym battles than their Pokémons’ growth and happiness. It happens sometimes with tunnel vision like that. Too many advertisements for the Pokémon League, the Elite Four, the Gym badges. Obi-Wan had been the same way when he was a kid.

He gathers his clothes from the shoreline and slips on his shoes. Flareon tries to help dry him out by wrapping herself repeatedly around his ankles and cooing out gusts of warm air, but all it does is create a new and unusual tripping hazard.

Especially when she suddenly perks up, about halfway to the building and jumps forward into a run. Obi-Wan stares after her, confused, clothes held in a slackened grip until he sees a very familiar growlithe running fult tilt from around the building. It hops the fence with practiced ease that makes Obi-Wan inwardly despair at the lesson it’s unwittingly teaching all of the other Pokémon.

But he can’t deny the way his heart thuds when he realizes what its presence means. His flareon, embarrassingly enough, seems to be thinking along the same lines, as she bounds up to the growlithe and starts winding between his legs instead, rubbing her head over every part of black and orange fur she can reach.

Obi-Wan sighs and shucks on his buttoned shirt, shaking out the water from his hair. He doesn’t even really bother with pants, seeing as his wet swim trunks go almost to his knees.

It’s Anakin. Anakin’s here. Anakin hasn’t been here for four months when he left in the midst of a shouting match. Obi-Wan has been trying--unsuccessfully--to put Anakin out of his mind. And now Anakin’s growlithe is prancing towards him like it’s a special present to see him at all.

“Yes, hello there,” Obi-Wan murmurs, pausing in buttoning up his shirt so he can pet at the growlithe’s--what does Anakin call him again?--muzzle. For a second, the Pokémon nuzzles back, scenting his face and neck as territorial Pokémon are wont to do, before it moves quickly forward and grabs Obi-Wan by the shirt, swinging him up onto its back.

Out of shock and a latent survival instinct, Obi-Wan drops the rest of his clothes and clings to the Pokémon’s back. “Shit!” is on the tip of his tongue the entire two minutes it takes to bound back to the fence, over it and through the welcome doors of his own Daycare.

Anakin is standing, back to the entrance, furiously tapping the bell on the desk, looking somehow both desperate and bored.

Growlithe barks once, twice, and shakes himself hard enough that Obi-Wan knows to let go before he gets rolled over upon.

It’s not the most graceful entrance he would have chosen after going months without seeing Anakin, to land on his back, partially dressed and smelling like the sea at the Pokémon trainer’s feet.

Anakin at least has the wherewithal to be both surprised and immediately worried. “Obi-Wan!” he yelps, turning around immediately upon his growlithe’s bark of victory.

“Yes, hello there,” Obi-Wan says dryly sitting up from his sprawl and combing a nervous hand through his hair.

“Where are your clothes?” Anakin asks shrilly, turning a very interesting shade of magenta and looking quickly away from Obi-Wan.

Obi-Wan couldn’t be more different, what with the way he looks at Anakin as if he’s starved for the sight of him. It’s been several long months since they last saw each other. The fight had been...awful, to say the least. Anakin had accused him of not really wanting him to succeed. Obi-Wan had accused him of the same tunnel vision he diagnoses most young adults to have.

Neither had been true. Obi-Wan hadn’t even meant it, but he’d been mad. He’d been mad that Anakin hadn’t even thought to listen to him more than a Gym Leader he’d just defeated.

Palpatine had urged him to go straight to the League. Obi-Wan had thought it prudent to return home to his mother, give his Pokémon a break, work his way to the island of the Pokémon League naturally as a means of bonding with and further testing his Pokémon. He has no idea who Anakin ended up listening to. It’s been something that has haunted him for weeks.

“Out in the back,” Obi-Wan grunts, standing and trying to pick up the shattered pieces of his dignity under the Pokémon trainer’s wide-eyed stare. Anakin’s grown older in the past few months, his face sharper. What is he now, newly twenty-three? Halfway to twenty-four? “Your Growlithe was quite enthusiastic to bring me here as soon as possible.”

Anakin flushes and looks down at his feet. He looks tired, Obi-Wan decides. Like he’s walked the entire continent just to show up at his door.

“Sorry,” Anakin says sheepishly. “I had--”

“Him out and walking with you, I know,” Obi-Wan finishes with a fond shake of his head. He buttons the last necessary button on his shirt and sweeps past Anakin to stand behind his desk. “You always liked having one of them out with you. How’s your Jolteon?”

“Twilight?” Anakin asks, sounding surprised Obi-Wan even remembered he had a jolteon. He tries not to feel offended. It’s an unfortunate truth that Obi-Wan remembers almost everything about Anakin, the trainer that used to hang around his daycare as though he couldn’t bear to step more than fifty paces from his front door. “He’s fine. A bit angry with me, I think.”

“Oh?” Obi-Wan asks, furrowing his brow as he looks up at his guest. “I’m not sure I understand.”

Anakin is quiet for a few seconds, and his hands clench down on the edge of the counter-top. When he speaks, his voice wavers. “Obi-Wan...do you think my Pokémon love me? Like, do you think I am a good trainer?”

Obi-Wan stares at him. This isn’t a conversation he should have without pants on, he decides. He slowly puts his pen down. “What happened, Anakin?” he asks gently, reaching out and laying a hand on the arm Anakin still has resting against the counter.

“I lost,” his favorite trainer whispers, looking down. Growlithe--Resolute, that’s what Anakin had named him--noses into the nape of his neck. Obi-Wan is not jealous. “I challenged the Elite Four, and I lost in the second round.”

Obi-Wan’s hand tightens completely involuntarily. He hates hearing that after their years-long friendship, the last few years where he’d thought perhaps they were on the verge of being something more, despite his reservations, Anakin had listened to Palpatine over him. Palpatine.

“Come around back here,” he instructs after a second’s thought. Somehow, still, after all these months, he thinks he knows what Anakin needs. “And release all of your Pokémon from their Pokéballs.”

“All of them?” Anakin asks, sounding so unsure Obi-Wan’s heart aches with the doubt of it all before he reigns that in. This isn’t about him.

This isn’t about him, but he can’t stop himself from asking, just once, “Yes. Do you trust me?”

Anakin’s fingers hesitate on the seal of his first Pokéball, and Obi-Wan’s heart jumps into his throat. “Yeah,” Anakin finally says gruffly, pressing the release. “Yeah, I do.”

His altaria pops out of her Pokéball with a trill and a flap of her cloud-shaped wings. He just catches a hint of the jolteon materialize into existence before he turns his back. “I’m going to put on proper clothes,” he tells Anakin over his shoulder. “Please, make yourself comfortable. I’m sure your Pokémon will remember half the ones here.”

And all of the ones Obi-Wan calls his own, he doesn’t add. Anakin should know. Anakin’s known them since he was fifteen years old and surly over the fact that his mother wouldn’t let him go out and hunt legendary Pokémon until he finished schooling.

He finds his abandoned clothes quickly, and shuffles into them. Flareon noses around him curiously, with more than a bit of excitement. She probably smells Anakin on him. The thought doesn’t warm his cheeks, but if it does, he’ll blame it on the sudden amount of heat she’s giving off.

He leaves his shirt as is and doesn’t even bother with the vest or tie. He’s not here to be Professor Kenobi. He’s here to be Obi-Wan, Anakin’s friend. That’s what Anakin needs from him right now. A friend.

He fixes his hair anyway in a mad bout of nerves, but no one, not even his mienshao or flareon, obsessed with appearances as they are, are paying enough attention to him in order to soothe his sudden insecurities.

More than anything, he wants to be back in the sea, surrounded by the gyarados’ coils. He doesn’t understand humans as much as he would like to, and he certainly doesn’t understand Anakin. Not anymore. Perhaps he never did.

His flareon bumps at his wrist with the crown of her head and he looks down with a sigh. “Someone’s excited, I see,” he murmurs wryly, smoothing down the stuck-up fur of her hair and chest mane. She purrs. “Not the most excited though,” he adds with a huff as he sees a blur of white and blue from the corner of his eyes as the female Meowstic who spends most of her time strolling the parameter of the Daycare abandons her position to dart towards the backdoors where a newly emerged navy male Meowstic stands waiting.

They collide and curl into each other, two halves of one whole brought back together.

Well, that’s as good as any sign to approach Anakin, who has decided to collapse on the soft grass of the enclosure. Other than the Meowstic, his freed Pokémon have curled around him. The jolteon, Artoo, rests by his head, while his charizard, Mustafar, brackets the length of his body with his own. The growlithe sits watchful at his feet, while a new, unfamiliar pancham curls up on his chest. Finally, his gallade sits cross-legged to his side.

“Yes,” Obi-Wan drawls before he can help himself, “It’s very obvious that your Pokémon don’t love you.”

Anakin bolts upright at the sound of his voice. The pancham growls at him, a baby noise that Obi-Wan didn’t necessarily think the species capable of.

The Pokémon trainer hushes it quickly with a stern, “Vader, no.”

Obi-Wan comes to sit cross-legged in front of the man. “You didn’t have a pancham last time,” he says easily. What he really wants to ask is much more complicated. He wants to know everything. He wants to know how Anakin changed. When. Why. He wants to know what’s still the same.

It’s always complicated when it comes to Anakin. It’s never been easy.

“He was injured when I found him,” Anakin admits, stroking the top of Vader’s head. “But a fighter. I think I was injured when I found him too.”

The man seems so lost in his own recollections that Obi-Wan hates to interrupt. Carefully, Anakin’s jolteon, Twilight, noses his hand. When he’s not pushed away, he jumps into Obi-Wan’s lap with a trill. Flareon lets out a hiss, but acquiesces when the jolteon licks at her snout, accepting her ownership of Obi-Wan.

“I had just lost,” Anakin says slowly. “I wanted to come back here, rent a Lapras and just ride until I saw the shoreline I knew was yours. But I didn’t know what you’d say to me. How mad you’d still be.”

Obi-Wan bites his lip. He wouldn’t have been mad. He’d been worried, from the second Anakin left his property. But how to tell the man that? Would the other even want to hear it? Would he think Obi-Wan was trying to infantilize him, to protect him?

“I didn’t want you to be right.” Anakin whispers, arms tightening around the Pokémon. “I didn’t want you to be right and say that I wasn’t ready. And then I was in the forest, walking home, and I found this guy. He’d been attacked by a bug pokémon who was probably a higher level. But he was so angry still. I...I wanted him on my team. I needed that fire back.”

Obi-Wan suddenly thinks that there’s much more distance between them than there should be. He wants to be hugging Anakin, to be kissing his temple. These were allowances they had given each other before the fight, things that Obi-Wan had squirreled away, close to his heart.

He wants them back.

“But I keep thinking about how the professor who gave me my first Pokémon told this guy I beat in my first battle that he lost because he didn’t love his Pokémon right, and I...I’m just worried that’s why I lost.” Anakin stares down at his pancham, who puts his paws on his cheeks and pats a few times.

“Oh, Anakin,” Obi-Wan sighs. He thinks it sounds too fond, too revealing, but Anakin looks up at him with wide, frightened eyes. “I’ve never known a trainer to love his Pokémon more, dear one.”

“Then why?” Anakin asks plaintively, scooting forward until their knees brush. “Why did I lose? The gym leader of Cinnabar Island told me I would win!”

Obi-Wan, quite maturely in his opinion, doesn’t mention the fact that the recently defeated Palpatine probably had ulterior motives for Anakin to challenge the league too quickly and then fail. “You weren’t ready, Anakin,” he says instead, placing his hand on the other’s knee and holding it even when the trainer jerks out of his grp. “Please, listen. It's about sheer time, training experience. It’s not about you or your relationship to your Pokémon. You have such an amazing, strong relationship with them! They love you. Anyone could tell. And you’re not lacking in skill either. I know your mind is sharp and ready for battle.”

Anakin looks at him teary-eyed. “I’ve been so worried that maybe they didn’t know I loved them,” he admits in a wavering voice.

Obi-Wan can’t resist moving impossibly closer to his trainer. “Oh, Anakin, of course they do. Pokémon don’t always express or interpret love the same way humans do, but they do have their own ways of showing it.”

“Like what?” Anakin sniffles, wiping at his wet eyes. If Obi-Wan had really been listening, he would have noticed the change in his tone. As it is, he continues immediately, too focused on trying to stop his trainer from crying to think of anything else.

“A fire-type Pokémon wil try to warm you if they think you’re cold, even if it means staying up all night to keep you in in its flame. And fighting-type Pokémon are capable of throwing a blanket over you if they think you need to rest. Psychic-types have been known to read their trainer’s emotions and either hug them or give them distance whenever they want. Ground- and bug-type have been known to bring berries to their trainers to get them something to eat, and electric--why are you looking at me like that?” Anakin’s nascent smirk grows bigger at this interruption and he cocks his head to the side as he studies Obi-Wan’s face. “And what does it say about a man who spends all of his time around Pokémon, that he would do those exact same things for me?”

Obi-Wan at least understands enough to scurry backwards a few paces, much to the jolteon in his lap’s distress, who jumps away with a huff.

“I’m not sure I understand,” he says quickly.

Anakin inches forward, setting the pancham, Vader, aside. He really has grown in the past few months. The loss of the League, the months apparently spent on the road, have aged him so that he’s both recognizable and something new and wild. “What if I knew of a man,” Anakin murmurs, falling to his palms as he closes the gap between them. “One who warmed me when I was cold, covered me when I was tired, hugged me when I was needy, and fed me when I was hungry? What would that mean, in terms of Pokémon?”

Obi-Wan swallows nervously. His entire body is bracketed by Anakin. Anakin, who seems to have discovered his most-guarded secret in their months apart. Anakin, who is hovering over him now with a dark look in his eyes. Finally something in Obi-Wan gives way. This is it. He will give Anakin everything he asks for. Everything he needs. He’s always tried to do this exact thing.

“I suppose that would mean he loved you,” he whispers, closing his eyes so he does not have to see Anakin’s recoil, Anakin’s disgust.

Anakin hums instead. “Obi-Wan,” he whispers, exhale hitting his lips. “Obi-Wan, open your eyes. There’s nothing to be scared of, beloved. I’m right here, I’m not going anywhere.”

At these words, Obi-Wan’s eyes jump open of their own accord. Anakin’s lips press down onto his in a movement just as sudden. He whimpers involuntarily and reaches up to clutch at the trainer’s hair, hold him to his mouth. Just as involuntarily, his lips part and Anakin’s tongue licks around the gap before darting inside. He moans. It’s shameful, the way he goes from scared to sucking on Anakin’s tongue as if he’ll die without the warm intrusion of it.

It hardly feels like the first time they’ve kissed. It feels like they’ve been kissing for years, like Anakin knows his mouth completely and utterly.

There are so many secrets left between them. Obi-Wan’s one unopened Pokéball, sitting on his belt. Anakin’s relationship with that last Gym leader. What he’s been doing these past few months. What Obi-Wan Kenobi made his fortune off of.

But none of it matters now. Not here at this moment. All that matters is showing Anakin that he’s been just as missed, just as wanted.

With that in mind, Obi-Wan rolls on top of his trainer and shoves his hands up inside Anakin’s shirt to trace along the muscles of his chest and back. This was his. His, his, his. He had come back to him. Everything else could wait.

#asks #pokemon au #the long awaited snippet!!!! #so i didn't get to all of obi-wan's pokémon teap #team** #and yes the 'unopened pokéball on his belt' refers to his being the trainer of a legendary pokémon #(zamazenta because i like that) #i really hope this is both a) readable to people who don't know shit about pokemon and #b) readable to people who do know shit about pokemon #because i am right in the middle #somehow i made this about love languages again but that's just me and my relationship with #obikin