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wrencatte · 3 months

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mini-fic! Cal and Merrin training, from Greez's POV. 1k words.

Cal and Merrin face off in a small clearing not far from the Mantis. She has a staff in hand, new and sturdy, just picked up from an outpost market, and Cal has…nothing. In fact, his lightsaber sits next to a nonchalant Cere, who’s scrolling through a holopad, seemingly unaware that Cal is about to get his ass kicked by an armed Nightsister.

Their resident Jedi Knight is a powerhouse, sure, and Greez is thankful every day he’s on their side, but without his lightsaber… Greez takes one look at the situation and decides he really don’t want to know.

He asks anyway.

“Training!” Cal says without opening his eyes. Greez isn’t going to question it. Not this time. Nope. Merrin watches Cal closely, one end of her staff buried in the soil, her hands folded on the other end so she can rest her cheek on the back of them. She waits patiently.

They all seem to be waiting for something. Even Greez, who still has no idea how this qualifies as ‘training.’ And Cere, who still doesn’t look up from her ‘pad, takes a serene sip of her drink. She’s probably using some freaky Force thing to sense what’s going on.

Cal looks like he’s meditating standing up. Deep, slow breaths. Calm expression. He keeps his hands lowered, like he’d used them to direct his breaths and then left them down on the exhale. Greez has seen Cal and Cere on early mornings, moving in sync with each other as they go through a fluid, tranquil set of movements without their lightsabers. It always started and ended with them directing their breaths like that.

Greez moves next to Cere, feeling like an intruder, but unable to stop watching.

The atmosphere is calm. Poised.

Then Cere says, “Go.”

Merrin is fast. She kicks her staff up and swings fiercely, devastating even without her magicks. She’s aiming straight for Cal’s head –

– who doesn’t karkin’ move. Greez lurches, a shout on his lips, but Cere puts out a hand to stop him. Wait and see, she doesn’t say, but Greez knows that look.

Cal dodges without opening his eyes. Minimal movement, languid in a way Greez’s never seen before. Merrin’s eyes flash in determination and she’s quick to go in for another strike. He dodges again, body twisting, never taking more than a couple centimeters more than he needs to avoid her staff. Greez’s heart eventually calms as the two of them move in tandem. Like a dance. An elegant and mesmerizing back and forth.

It could almost be a performance. Something specially created for a dramatic stage.

Eventually, though, Cal’s calm expression starts to pinch. Mouth twisted into a grimace, sweat beads up on his forehead and darkens his training top. He falters. Dodges a second slower. Moves a little further out of the way than he was before.

Merrin swings her staff just has hard, just as fast as she has been, but Cal doesn’t dodge in time. He flinches and stumbles – and Merrin’s not stopping.

That determination slides into panic, Merrin’s eyes widening, but the momentum is too quick even for her. She tries to change the target from Cal’s head to somewhere safer, like his arm, because a broken arm is better than a broken skull, but she’s too fast and he’s fumbling and –

Just before the staff connects – it wasn’t going to make it to his arm, Greez realized with a sick horror – it flies out of Merrin’s grip into Cere’s hand. Holopad and drink forgotten, Cere twirls the staff in one hand before she plants the edge into the dirt. Greez hadn’t even seen her move. Hells.

Cal drops to the ground, heaving for breath. He groans out a heartfelt swear in some language Greez doesn’t recognize – Greez discovered early in their mission for the holocron that the kid knew way too many languages. Seriously, a kid that young, five years on a backwater planet like Bracca or not, shouldn’t know so many languages! Let alone all those karkin’ swears.

“Language,” Cere scolds mildly. Cal just groans again. “What happened?”

He props himself up on his elbows, hair in disarray and the side of his face speckled with dark soil. Merrin carefully pats the soil off the back of his head, her movements stiff. “It started to feel too easy, and I panicked,” he admits. “I started overthinking.”

“How do we fix it?”

“…Don’t do that?” Cal offers, grinning. Cere raises an eyebrow. He takes Merrin’s hand and allows her to heave him up. Greez doesn’t miss the way he subtly squeezes her hand in reassurance before he lets go. “I got complacent. If there was another opponent, I would’ve been taken out a lot sooner. It was only the Force and Merrin, and I freaked when I realized I didn’t know anything else.”

Cere nods. “In other words, you sank too deep. That’ll only be fixed with more practice. You can’t do that in the middle of real combat.”

Cal sighs gustily. “More practice,” he agrees as he holds out a hand and Merrin’s staff comes flying to smack into it. He twirls it with a flourish before presenting it in a low and dramatic bow to an amused Merrin just to make her smile. She does, helplessly charmed, before she quickly twists it into a smirk as she takes it back, a faint blush on her cheeks. Cere hides her own smile behind her hand.

“Next time, maybe don’t aim for his head?” Greez suggests.

Merrin looks disgusted by the very idea. “Then how will he learn? Training must prepare you for battle. If you do not fear for your life in training, then you will not fear for your life in true war. You will die.”

Cal laughs loudly over Greez’s sputtering. “Yeah, Greez, how will I learn? Merrin, aim for the head any time.”

“With pleasure. Someone must knock sense into you.”

Greez drags a hand down his face in despair. What did he get himself into?

#cal kestis #cere junda #nightsister merrin #greez dritus #sw jfo #jfo fic #my writing #had this idea in my head when getting the one with the force trophy #dodging while using focus sight #I had to look up what it was called to write that tag #and realized I got his starting position wrong then quickly rewrote that part lol #pre survivor post jfo #canon is mine to command #so as long as it makes for a good story

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wayfaringjedi · 1 year

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Decided to post Dark Comforts here, after all, because there's really no reason why I shouldn't! I mean, other than the fact that it's Explicit, so, you know... 18+ and all that.

It's a story about an Inquisitor Cal and a TIE pilot with a secret... she's a survivor, just like him.

Ao3 Clickything

It's currently 8,888 words long, and written un-beta'd over the course of, uh... a week, maybe? So it's in its purest form, let's say. Chapter count has been increased from 4 to 5, but I may add more. I've got an idea of where I want this to go. It's also the first ever story I've written in second person POV, which is an exercise I'm finding very interesting. It allows me to really focus on the second-by-second dripfeed of information in a way that my typical third-person past tense style doesn't quite allow for. I've tried to make the reader character interesting whilst still not describing her physically, other than, you know... she's female, and she's hot, I guess?

I've taken sort of a sadboi route with Inquisitor Cal, as I personally interpret him as being so horrifically vicious because his deeply good, kind base nature isn't that far below the surface. To be an Inquisitor warped by pain he's got to constantly war with himself, and if so inclined to a person, can find it dangerously easy to get in touch with his better self. The way he operates is by denying his empathy, not by not having it -- but there are pieces of who he is that no matter what, he can never truly suppress... and that may be the foothold he needs.

Happy belated Cal-entine's Day, all! ♡

#jfo fic #inquisitor cal kestis #Inquisitor!Cal #cal kestis x reader #cal kestis x you #cal kestis smut

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capricornus-rex · 2 years

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A Shadow of What You Used to Be (19)

Chapter 19: Voice of Treason | Cal Kestis x Irele Skywalker

Requested by Anon

Summary: There is another! Years after young Anakin Skywalker departed Tatooine, his mother Shmi delivers a second child—this time, a daughter. Whilst the circumstance of the girl’s birth remains unexplained, Irele Skywalker has yet to choose the true path between those laid out for her.

A/N: Hello guys, I’m sorry if I’ve become so inactive last year. The slump was one thing, but more and more things kept piling on my shoulders that it’s becoming more difficult to bear. I lost my grandmother a few months after I announced that she was sick. We lost her to cancer. My only comfort was that I was able to take care of her and spend time with her. For a while, I lost my energy to write again; and now that it’s the new year, I’m picking up my old habits again. I hope you guys have had a great Christmas and I wish you guys a wonderful 2022. ❤ As for me, I’m okay and I will be.

Also in AO3

Chapters: Prelude – 1 – 2 – 3 – 4 – 5 – 6 – 7 – 8 – 9 – 10 – 11 – 12 – 13 – 14 – 15 – 16 – 17 | Previous: Part 18 | Masterlist

20 of ?

Trilla’s heart leapt, but not in the wholesome way most would think.

The sight of the red-haired Jedi roaming free like a dog and Irele—of all people—behind him without any form of restraint on him launched a thousand ideas into Trilla’s mind.

It was a risk to frame Irele, but if ever the universe would favor her, perhaps she would topple Vader’s own ward out of her own pedestal.

“Don’t you have another target in mind, Trilla?”

“It was never implied that we stick to whom we choose to hunt,”

Irele squinted in reply. The Second Sister’s knack of not answering Yes-or-No questions slightly vexxed the young ward.

Trilla raised her lightsaber, its end pointed at the boy with a head of hair as crimson as her blade. The gesture suggested as if she’s taking the Jedi for herself.

“I see that he is not bound, Irele,”

“Smart observation,”

The Inquisitor’s lip snarled, “Are you conspiring with this Jedi?”

“Do you have proof that I am?”

There is a silence. Irele was not to be underestimated, especially her wit—borne from the harsh desert life in Tatooine and sharpened by her exclusive Imperial training to serve Vader—it was more of an ally to her than an asset, as some people would have remarked. She made sure that the Inquisitor was aware of the repercussions if she were to accuse the Vader’s Ward, heavier is the punishment when the treason is proven baseless and for lack of evidence.

“Then why isn’t he bound if you’ve captured him!?”

“Cal here proved to be quite cooperative that I felt that there is no need for it,”

The Jedi boy could not react—as a matter of fact, he does not know how or what. Thoughts chased each other around his head, the exchange of the two women was nearly white noise to him. Although, one coherent question could be heard in his mind, What is she planning to do with me in this?

When the white noise dissolved and his attention returned to the Inquisitor and his apparent captor, just when he thought they were coming to a close in the conversation, a trooper in black armor with red stripes—one that Cal is very familiar with—butts into the scene.

He politely does so, beginning with an “Excuse me” and when all three turn to him, the soldier fixes his faceless gaze on the young ward.

“Lord Vader has requested for you, milady,”

“Tell him it’ll take me a few minutes, I left my fighter in the other side of the island,” the fact slightly exasperated the girl.

Irele detected a croak in the soldier’s voice, as if he cut himself from what he was about to say; he gathers himself in the next second.

“He requests that you come now, we will have a shuttle arranged for you.”

with the Second Sister and the Purge Trooper standing beside each other, Irele half-shifted her eyes to her left, then quickly steeled them at the latter, perfectly masking her growing distrust. It appears she was more concerned of her favorite ship being blown to bits or thrown off to the black ocean rather than the credit of her capture being grabbed by someone else.

“Have a porter fetch my fight and dock it where I’m headed,” she commanded as she strode ahead of the trooper. She signalled for another trooper standing around to put Cal in handcuffs. The air of authority lingered upon her.

Before disappearing with the trooper, she stopped at her heels to face the Second Sister.

“You’ll take it from here, won’t you, Trilla?”

the woman did not speak. Irele took it as a yes when she hung her head and did not meet her gaze again. Irele let her thoughts run once she was alone with the trooper in the large elevator heading to the surface. The moment she left Cal alone with the Second Sister, he was open for the taking and the next competent person was there with him. Later on, her thoughts branched out to Trilla’s next possible move, which she has always anticipated from the start. Turning him in formally before Vader obviously meant that the acknowledgment is hers, and hypothetically, the favor. She can almost feel the Second Sister’s glee.

Vader’s sister was confident that she cannot be toppled that easily. Her cunning was something that her own big brother lacked and secretly envied, for he was the perfect opposite: he is sheer, brute force, imposing and terrifying just as his mere silence. Her mind wandered on the idea that while there are moments where she saw Trilla’s determination—albeit reckless and sometimes miscalculated—but she confessed to herself that she had been blind to Trilla’s desperation for favor. Being in the second highest rank among the Inquisitors meant that she would do anything to preserve that status, or evolve it—but Irele had the feeling that she Second Sister would’ve preferred the latter.

Through the maze of rock and ice, Irele and trooper find themselves in the base—the one pasr the abandoned village—and marched through the aisle of computers on either side. Her appearance caused every Stormtrooper to drop everything and greet her.

“Carry on.” she simply dismissed.

The large door disappeared into its frame, Irele makes her way to the center of the landing platform that’s jutting out of the mountain face. A gray shuttle awaits her at the end of the runway.

The humid ocean breeze was such a relief for Irele, the air in the caves felt too stale and heavy—it reminded her of the days where she was first captured then conditioned. The scent of wet grass was welcome in her lungs and for the first time, her exhale sounded satisfied, and a smile snuck in as she pushed out the last of the air before boarding the ship.

Once off-planet, she recognized her ship. Behind it—with a considerable distance—was another, and she didn’t need to know whose it is.

When the shuttle landed in the hangar of the second command ship, she gracefully strode out of the entrance, barely missing a beat in her stride; the trooper following her tails was replaced by a uniformed officer, obligated to escort the young lady to the dark lord’s chamber. Irele gestured at the man with her, essentially dismissing him and so he left as she entered.

After her first few steps through the door, she bent a knee and bowed with great reverence.

“You called for her, Brother?”

In the center of the room was a large, black shell. Parted vertically to reveal an ice-white space inside, sitting in it was Darth Vader with his back turned to Irele while looking at a screen. He later swivels his seat to face her.

“The report states that you’ve caught a Jedi,”

“As I should, yes,”

“Perhaps you’re aware that he and his companions have something far more important than the bounty on their heads,”

Irele squints her eyes in puzzlement. Vader senses that she is not hiding anything behind that expression.

“It wasn’t stated in the profile though,”

Indeed, when the profile were presented before the Inquisitors and Irele, there was no indication that Cal is in possession of whatever important thing Vader mentioned.

Irele continued, “What is it?”

“A Holocron,”

“What does it contain?”

“A list of children, Force-sensitive ones. They will be a great asset to the Emperor. I trust that you make him talk about where he’s hiding it,”

“Even if it kills him?”

Darth Vader only stared facelessly.

Meanwhile, Trilla did exactly what Irele had anticipated. She thought that there is the slim chance that either Irele will declare her responsibility of the capture or Vader will acknowledge it based from the reports submitted. The Inquisitor decided to gamble her luck.

“We’ll take him to the ship,” Trilla commanded another trooper.

The Second Sister takes the lead, two troopers block Cal from a back exit.

Still bound, Cal had not noticed that from the moment he and Irele met Trilla, BD-1 was missing the whole time. He was smart enough not to make his concern obvious, he trusted the tiny droid had something up in its circuits. He asked BD-1—in his thoughts—where could he be.

Alas, the tiny droid, practically invisible to the enemy, skittered rock to rock as he attempted to get closer to the troopers. Whatever the droid is planning—it will end up to be a mess. The pitter-pat of its feet was muted by the dull squeaking of the cogs in the middle of the caves. In a spider-like grace, BD jumped onto the shoulder of one trooper, the tip of his splicer sends a jolt of electricity and BD didn’t wait for him to fall to the floor before hopping to the other.

The Second Sister spun to witness the commotion unravelling before her. Not wasting a split second longer, the tiny droid immediately hopped onto Cal’s wrist and picks the lock of the cuffs. Cal’s first instinct was to ignite his saber, Trilla follows, and they exchange hits. The were too preoccupied with their skirmish that they didn’t notice a small band of bounty hunters—one of them was a droid—had been camping above the rocks and finally got the golden opportunity to jump on them.

In the middle of their interlocked saber, the hulking droid descended from its perch, the ground shook as it landed and split the two warriors apart. Then it was time for the bounty hunters to spring into the action.

“Oy, you take on the woman, get the boy!” cried the hunter, thick with accent.

Trilla and Cal each had to deal with two hunters. It would seem that Cal had gotten the shorter end of the stick since he had both the droid and the hunter’s attention. The Inquisitor was pushed to the edge, landing a lower rock outcrop with her two enemies.

Once separated, the humanoid bounty hunter fished out something from under his cape. A small metal canister explodes into a fog upon hitting the ground, partially blinding Cal; it caught Trilla’s attention and gave the enemy an opening to strike her—and strike her he did. This disoriented her long enough to make their escape with a knocked-out Cal on the droid’s shoulder.

They fled.

The Second Sister felt her stomach sink to her feet.

#cal kestis #cal kestis fic #star wars jedi fallen order fic #star wars fic #requested by anon #anon request #swjfo #swjfo fic #jfo #jfo fic #jedi fallen order #fem! oc #cal kestis x fem! oc #cal kestis x fem oc #cal kestis x oc

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archiedrawsstuff · 4 months

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illustrating my own fic again like it’s a normal practice

#cal kestis #nightsister merrin #fanart #merrical #star wars #star wars jedi survivor #jfo #illustrating my own fic as if it’s okay #it’s not #it’s pathetic af

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phoenixyfriend · 7 months

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Hi have a concept I cannot write myself because I don't know FJO outside of fanfic.

Two things happen:

Ventress survives past the end of the war, and is known to be alive and keeping away from the Empire.

A very Traditionalist Mandalorian visits Dathomir in the two or three years post-RotS (ship damage or something,) and finds tween Merrin.

Cue a quest to find The Known Surviving Dathomiri Zabrak Nightsister, so as to follow the "child must be returned to their people, or at least we do our best to make it happen" aspect of the foundling process.

(Technically, Maul is an option, but bb!Merrin refuses That option, because Maul, and Elsbeth is not known to Merrin or the Mando.)

Mando with a necromancy teenybopper trying to hunt out this magnificently slippery former Sith Acolyte who thinks she's being hunted for a bounty and definitely keeps hooking up with Quinlan.

Quinlan is how they finally make contact, though. He slips past to get an idea of why this person is trying to find Ventress, and has a Revelation that he needs to call his girlfriend about a New Baby Sister for her.

For fun, the Mandalorian on this quest could be a younger Armorer.

#merrin #nightsister merrin #asajj ventress #the armorer #quinlan vos #quintress #star wars #the clone wars #sw games #jfo #the mandalorian #phoenix talks #I can't do video games and I can't do let's plays. so. I can't really engage with fjo in a deeper manner than fic and fanart

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radiosummons · 1 year

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Time-travel/fix it AUs with Cal Kestis as the main protag will always be funny to me, especially when authors pair him up with the Disaster Lineage (usually as Obi-Wan's new padawan since Ahsoka ended up apprenticing under Anakin).

Mostly because:

1) I will always fuck with AUs where Obi-Wan gets a new padawan, regardless of whoever said padawan is.

2) The sheer comedic and potential angst/anxiety of everyone trying to navigate having an actual tiny, baby Jedi on the battlefield with them.

3) Cal just mentally trying to process the whole time-travel thing on top of being a padawan to HIGH GENERAL, JEDI MASTER, COUNCIL MEMBER OBI-WAN FUCKING KENOBI!!!!!!!

4) The opportunity for Anakin to struggle with possible feelings of jealousy over Obi-Wan having a new padawan and maybe slowly coming to accept Cal as a Jedi sibling (with helpful, or not so helpful input from Ahsoka-lol).

5) Obi-Wan having to wrangle yet another droid loving padawan with very obvious mental and trust issues and OH GOD HE'S JUST AS TINY AS ANAKIN WAS AND HOW COULD THE COUNCIL HAVE EVER APPROVED THIS-

But, most of all, what I love about this particular AU is the additional, optional layer of Cal somehow knowing (usually through psychometry) that Anakin is Darth Vader and just having to struggle to interact with his new Master's former padawan without letting anyone else know, that he knows--

--which then leads to baby Cal Kestis meeting Anakin the Skywalker for the first time and just sort of blurting out something to the equivlaent of "... don't fucking talk to me" and then screaming internally when everyone inevitably reacts to Obi-Wan's new padawan clearly hating/not taking a liking to Anakin at all.

Obviously, Ahsoka would think this is hilarious, Anakin would take it super personally and Obi-Wan would just feel exasperated/delighted/resigned at the fact that he has yet another rude padawan to take care of.

*fics recs under the cut*

For anyone who might be interested in reading fics with this particular AU, I can't help but recommend these two in particular:

a distant fire is burning by e_va (AO3)/@e-vasong (blog)

(I Promise) This Time Will Be Different by Nation_Ustria

Make sure to give these authors lots of love. They've done an excellent job with their writing :3

Update: Since this post has started to sorta blow up (at least way more than I expected WOW), I just wanted to take the opportunity to shout out another fave Time-travel/Fix-It fic that I also adore called:

Lost Property Box by Young_and_spitefilled/@constantlymisspelled

It's not a Cal joins the Disaster Lineage fic, but instead sees an older Cal Kestis return to a timeline way before the events of Phantom Menace. And what do you know, he gets to interact with baby Obi-Wan and other child versions of the Jedi he looked up to as a baby Jedi himself. It's pretty great. Definitely check it out :3

#star wars au #jfo #jedi fallen order #cal kestis #tcw au #disaster lineage #baby cal kestis #obi wan kenobi #obi wan gets a new padawan AUs #are a guilty pleasure of mine #i just dig found family tropes so much #anakin skywalker #ahsoka tano #fic rec #fic recommendation

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breakfastteatime · 10 months

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Today's minific, 'Just breathe', is for @believe-in-alderaan!

“Just breathe, kid. C’mon, please. I’ll do whatever it takes. I’ll never complain about the mudstains your boots leave everywhere, or your ridiculous poncho collection. I won’t even complain about BD jumping all over my couch. Just breathe.”

Greez’s voice cuts through the darkness, and Cere is thrown suddenly and completely into consciousness. She snaps upright, stomach muscles wailing in protest, and finds herself on the deck of the Mantis, soaked through and bitterly cold. She looks over and sees a nightmare.

Cal, unconscious and bleeding.

Greez, performing increasingly desperate CPR.

Merrin, her magick winding itself into the wound running Cal through.

BD-1, nudging Cal and getting no response.

All of them, doing what they can to bring him back. Bring him back because he’s dead. He’s dead. Cal’s dead. He’s –

The dark side calls again, whispers of its power, promises it can defeat death if she just reaches out, uses its strength, and slams it into Cal, dragging him back, kicking and screaming if that’s what it takes. She can’t lose him, but she’s going to if she doesn’t reach out, doesn’t take hold of all the power she needs to keep hold of him for –

Cere pushes it all away. Cal gave everything for her, for her mission. She will not let it be in vain. She will not let him die, and she will not fall to the dark side to do so.

She is no Jedi Healer. It doesn’t matter. She moves to Cal, tells Merrin, Greez and BD to not give up, and reaches for him. He is so far away, the last tether keeping him out of the Force already fraying, but Cere is neither meek nor quiet. She’s not giving him a choice in the matter. He is not dying here, not for a path she put him on. He is not joining the Force, not today. She’s lost Trilla. She can’t lose him too. She grabs that tether and gives him a single command.

Just breathe.

She is thrown back into herself. The sound of someone coughing and choking fills the air. Cere moves, but Greez is ahead of her, grabbing Cal and rolling him onto his side. His body convulses as his lungs give up all the water he’d inhaled. Greez thumps Cal’s back, helping to clear his lungs faster. BD runs a scan and jabs a stim into Cal. He scans again, happier with the results this time. Merrin’s magick fades and she slumps, looking to Cere. Cere reaches over and holds her hand. She knows Merrin has done all she can. They all have. Cal is alive. He will heal.

They make quick work of patching him up, stripping layers of clothing to reach the wounds beneath. It is a vicious mark Vader inflicted on him, one intended to cause agony rather than death. Had they not escaped, Cere has no doubt in her mind what fate would have befallen Cal. It takes her breath away until the Force reminds her that is a what if, and Cal is alive and under her protection.

At last, their work is finished and quiet falls. The deck is awash with blood and seawater. Greez is the first to break, sobbing into two hands. BD-1 hurries to him, beeping comfort. Greez pets him with a spare hand, telling him it’s okay. He’ll be okay. Merrin holds out for longer, but she is not immune to the emotions crashing through the ship. Cere moves between them, tears mingling with the saltwater on her cheeks. The sounds of Cal’s ragged breaths fill the silence as they all sit and process.

“He’s alive,” Cere tells them, tells herself. Her voice cracks, breaks. “We did it.”

“We really did,” Greez says. He scrubs his eyes, reaches for Cal who remains unconscious. “Alright, kid. You get some rest. We’ve got you.”

“Yes,” Merrin says, weariness straining her voice. “We did not do all of that for you to give up now.”

BD-1 punctuates this with a particularly shrill trill. Cal does not react.

Cere reaches down, runs a hand through Cal’s hair, pulling the wet strands away from his face. He’ll be fine. He’s going to be fine. Looking up, her eyes fall on the holocron someone (Greez?) carelessly threw aside. Cere picks it up, puts it on the table, ready for later. She won’t open it. That’s for Cal to do.

Closing her eyes, Cere breathes.

#fic requests 2023 #star wars jedi: fallen order #jfo minific #jfo headcanon #cal kestis #cere junda #brb having more parental!cere feels than i know what to do with #greez dritus #merrin #the mantis crew

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believe-in-alderaan · 8 months

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[COMMISSION] The Nightsister and the Jedi "After receiving information from a questionable source, Cal and Merrin go to investigate a Sith tomb.

Action! Adventure! Romance!" 🧭

#i have talented writer friends #and i love illustrating their fics!!#cal kestis #nightsister merrin #jedi fallen order #jedi survivor #cal x merrin #merrical #my art #jfo #cal kestis fanart #fanfiction #archive of our own

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namjoon-koya · 1 year

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Chapter One: A new hope.

Summary: You grew up on Mandalore with your adoptive parent, you accepted the creed and lived the way as a Mandalorian as your buir taught you. Until the Great Purged happened that night you witnessed your entire home being destroyed, your buir laid down their life to save yours. You managed to get away from Mandalore and you wandered alone for a few years until you met Cere and Greez, Cere told you her plan about rebuilding the jedi order and taking down the empire. You wanted to avenge your family, your home so you agreed to help them. The last thing you expected was to fall for a jedi and follow him wherever he went.

Pairing: Cal Kestis X Mandalorian fem!reader. (I won’t be using Y/N as I will be mostly using you or she/her pronouns.)

Word count: 4.7k

Author notes: I’ve played through Jedi: The Fallen Order and wanted to write a series for it, hope you guys enjoy it! This series will follow the gameplay (with a few different dialogues so the whole reader fits in)

Warnings: violence, language, mentions of injuries.

You took the rag that was on the table and began to clean your blaster, you looked over at Greez who was currently cooking dinner for you and Cere. Greez would always cook whenever a big job was coming up, you assumed it was to calm his nerves about going headfirst into a fight with the empire. You couldn’t blame him though the empire has destroyed everything they deemed a threat to their empire, you still remember those di’kut coming to Mandalore and murdering anyone in their sight.

“Buir! We must go!” you shout as you go to grab their arm, even while you were never allowed to remove your helmet. Your Buir knew you were afraid; they couldn’t blame you though you were still only a foundling. “You have to be brave now adiik, you must run and get away from Mandalore.” “What about you?” Your buir didn’t answer you instead they gently bumped their forehead against yours, “This is the way.”

“Hey kid!” Greez’s voice was quick to snap you out of your memory “Yes Greez?” You said as you went back to cleaning your blaster, “I’ll leave your plate here so you can eat later.” You nodded; you never took off your helmet even after Mandalore. Even when you met Cere and Greez you told them it was part of your creed and it was the one thing that you were still able to hold onto, Cere understood and thankfully so did Greez. “We’re approaching Bracca.” You heard Cere’s voice from the cockpit, you place your blaster in your holster and move over to where Cere was.

“Remember we’re here to find a Jedi named Cal Kestis” She said informing Greez and you, “and what makes you so sure he’s special?” You asked Cere she gives you a small smile “You do believe in hope, right?” She asked, you were glad for your helmet because she would’ve seen the doubt on your face when she asked you that. You haven’t believed in hope ever since the Great Purge on Mandalore, you didn’t want to get your hopes up only to lose it again like you did when you were alone. As you were lost in your thoughts you heard a loud sound erupt from outside.

You quickly look out the window and noticed a few empire starfighters “Shit! Cere they must’ve found him!” You shout, “Look there!” Cere shouts, you look and see a starfighter getting ready to blast at someone, Greez was quick to shoot at the starfighter you rush to the opening of the ship and press the door open “Hey what are you doing?!” Greez shouts, you decide to ignore him. As the ship door opens you saw him quickly look over at you, “keep moving!” You shout at him.

“And who are you?” You roll your eyes, was this really the time to be asking that? “Just keep moving forward! We’ll find a place to get you on the ship!” He only nodded and Greez pulled away quickly, “another starfighter is after us!” He shouts as he flies the Mantis away quickly, you place your hand on the wall to keep you from falling.

“Shit! They shot the train! Get ready to help Cal!” Cere shouts, you nod. Greez positions the Mantis and you watch as Cal comes sliding down the train, you hold your hand out “You have to jump!” You shout and Cal did what you said, but he was barely able to grab onto the edge of the platform. “Hold on!” You shout as you try sliding towards Cal as he’s about to reach for your hand a sudden blast hits the mantis, “Fuck!” You shout as Cal’s hand slips making him fall. “Cere he’s falling!” You shout “Greez try following him!” Greez nodded and tried following Cal, shit you didn’t think he would survive a fall like that. You’d be surprised if he did “He’ll be fine, relax.” You heard Cere say from the cockpit, even with your helmet on Cere often could read your emotions.

“I see him, get the door ready.” Greez says, when you look out the window you see Cal fighting against an inquisitor. You knew it was the second sister you rushed towards the door and open it; you see Cal on the ground rubbing his head “Get on!” You shout getting his attention, Cal was quick to get on his feet and limp his way over to the Mantis. That’s when you saw her the second sister with her red lightsaber glowing, she tilts her head to the side as she stares at you. “Funny I thought Mandalorians were extinct, I guess the empire didn’t wipe all of you out.” You didn’t say anything, instead you pushed Cal inside and pulled out your blaster and began to shoot at her.

She managed to dodge it and even use her lightsaber to deflect them back to you, you weren’t worried about it hitting you. Your armor protected you well enough, but when you saw her running towards the Mantis you knew she wanted to strike you down with her lightsaber. You press a button to get the door to close “Cere, Greez! We have to leave now!” You shout, as she gets close the door finally closes protecting you from her lightsaber. You and Cal rush to the front and see the second sister jump on the ship, she tried getting control of the ship. The mantis starts to spin around you hold onto anything, so you didn’t end up falling. Cere was quick to help Greez get control back on the ship making the second sister fall off from the mantis, Greez quickly sent the four of you into hyperspace and away from Bracca.

You let out a sigh of relief as you go sit down, “okay, shut that thing off and grab a seat.” You hear Greez say from the cockpit, Cal shut off his lightsaber “thanks for the help, but who are you people?” Cal asked as he and Cere joined you, “My name is Cere Junda, and this is my captain Greez Dritus.” Cal looked over at you waiting for you to introduce yourself, you crossed your arms and only stared at him back. Cere cleared her throat “She’s a close friend of mine, she’s a Mandalorian.” Cere said and Cal only managed a small nod “Who was that back there?” he asked Cere, “An imperial inquisitor she’s a force user hunting down Jedi survivors and now that she knows who you are, she will not stop until she destroys you.”

“How do you know so much?” Cal asked, “And why’d you help me?” Cere stared at Greez and you “We track imperial communications; we heard the inquisitors were heading to Bracca so we made our move.”

“Oh, yeah? What’s the bounty on Jedi these days anyway?” Cal said as he crossed his arms, “Hey di’kut you’re allowed to leave anytime nobody is stopping you.” You said to him, Cere and Greez risked their lives to save him and that’s the thanks he has for them? You didn’t want to listen to their conversation anymore, you decided to get up and leave to your room. As you close the door you finally take off your helmet Maker you were exhausted from today, you lay in your bed and slowly began to close your eyes.

“Adiik?” You open your eyes and see your buir near the door “Buir? You’re home late.” You said rubbing your eyes, they nod “I was in a meeting with the others, we were discussing the ceremony for you to accept the creed.” Your buir saw the way your eyes light up in excitement, they chuckled “are you excited?” “Yup! That way I can finally go with you to different planets! I want to see different parts of the galaxy.” You didn’t know that the incoming days would be the last with your buir, you wished that the both of you weren’t on Mandalore when the Great Purge happened.

You suddenly woke up when you heard a soft knock at your door, you quickly put on your helmet and walked over to your door to open it. When you did you saw Cal standing there, he awkwardly rubbed the back on his neck “Cere is calling for us.” “I’ll be there.” Cal continues to stand there, before you could ask him what’s wrong, he quickly apologizes to you “Listen, I’m sorry about before… I was just being caution.” You sighed “Cal don’t worry about it I understand, trust me Mandalorian beskar goes for a high price too.” He smiles “we should get going before Cere becomes inpatient.”

You follow Cal out and see Cere standing near the hologram “You two are finally up.” She said looking at Cal and you, you already knew she smiling at the sight of seeing you and Cal getting along. “We’ll be landing in Bogano, I’m sure you remember it right?” she asked you “Oh how could I forget the adorable bonglings.” You say to Cere, “You thought those things were cute?” Greez asked, “Hey don’t be jealous just because one of them let me touch it while they kept running away from you.” You teased Greez grumbles and Cere just chuckles, as Greez lands the ship you follow Cere and Cal outside.

“A Jedi I knew discovered this place before the Purge, you won’t find it on any maps.” Cere explained. “The empire doesn’t know this place exist?” “No.” “So what’s the plan...We hide out here?” Cal asked. “We’re done hiding Cal. See that structure over there?” She pointed towards a direction where it seemed to be a tall tower, “I believe that vault holds the key to rebuilding the Jedi order, but it requires someone strong in the force to pass its test.” Cere said to Cal, “and since you’re not a Jedi anymore that’s why you need me.” “I know you don’t trust me and I’m not really sure I trust you, but we have a common enemy and a common cause I’ll share more of plan after you reach the Vault, but until then there’s someone here, I think you should meet.” Cere begins to walk towards the Mantis “May the force be with you both.” When Cere said that you quickly looked over at her, she wanted you to go with Cal? Before you could even ask her, she was already inside the Mantis, “Guess we’re looking for a Jedi then?” he asked you.

You could only tilt your head “I’m assuming so, but I can’t entire the vault with you.” Cal only nods “Then I hope you can keep up.” He teases. You rolled your eyes as you start following him, you noticed a few bonglings jumping from one hole to another. “Have you been here before?” he asked, “Yeah, but I’ve never ventured far it was only Cere.” You hear Cal hum in response, as you follow Cal he comes to a stop “This looks like a safe space to meditate.” You didn’t respond you watched as he sits down on the ground and closes his eyes, you made sure to remain quite as you didn’t want to disturb him.

Suddenly though you heard a small noise coming from somewhere, you placed your hand on your blaster getting ready to protect Cal until a small droid jumped down in front of you almost startling you a bit. “Maker you scared me little guy.” You said taking your hand away from your blaster and placing it on your hip, the small droid beeped again and looked at Cal. He was still meditating “he’s a little busy just give him a few minutes.” You say to the little droid he places himself in front of Cal patiently waiting for him, you hear Cal suddenly let out a sigh before looking down at the droid in front of him “Hey, BD-1 I’m Cal.” BD-1 responses back to him, “uhm yeah I’m okay, we’re just looking for someone.” BD-1 beeps again “No, not you. We’re searching for a Jedi or something like that.” Suddenly BD-1 jumps in excitement almost like BD-1 is telling you both to follow.

“Hold on, you know the Jedi? What do you know?” BD-1 doesn’t explain instead telling you both to follow again “wait! Hold on.” You watch as BD-1 slices a platform allowing a small bridge to pull out making it easier for Cal and you to climb the vines “maybe BD-1 could lead us to the vault?” You asked as you follow Cal “Hopefully it would make it easier to get there.” You hummed in agreement, as the both of you follow BD you noticed BD going into a cave-like home. You suddenly saw a creature attacking one of the bonglings BD quickly rushed to save it, but the creature only ended up attacking BD in the process. “Hold on BD-1, I’m coming.” Cal says as he lets go out the pole and rushing the creature with his lightsaber.

As Cal took care of the creatures you picked up BD-1 and examined him “Shit Cal?” “What’s up?” you showed Cal the damage that happened to BD-1, “That was pretty brave of you to protect the bongling.” Cal said to BD-1, BD sadly beeped back at Cal “wait I think I can fix him.” You tilt your head as you follow Cal, he uses the force to slow down a giant fan-like object. As you follow Cal inside you see a workbench, “Here give me BD.” You gently pass BD to Cal and that’s when Cal gets to work on fixing BD’s leg, “okay how’s that?” BD jumps on one leg to the other to test it out, he beeps happily at Cal before beeping at you.

“Nice job.” You said nudging gently at Cal’s shoulder. “Hm, I didn’t expect to get a compliment from a Mandalorian.” Cal said smirking at you. “Don’t get used to it.” As you and Cal start to find your way out of the cave you saw an area that looked like it leads outside, “Oh hey you found a way out.” Cal took out his lightsaber and was getting ready to cut the wires away, you barely noticed that it was electrocuted “Wait Cal!” it was too late to warn him, Cal flies backwards as his lightsaber connects with the wires. “Dank farrik!” you rush to Cal and gently help him sit up “I’m alright.” Cal said letting out a painful groan “No you’re not, Cal that could’ve killed you.” You’re not sure what you could give Cal for his pain, you forgot to bring your bacta.

You heard BD-1 let out a beep as he rushed to your side and Cal’s suddenly BD-1 popped something out “a healing stim?’ BD beeped happily “Nice BD.” You gently patted his head, Cal used the stim “that’s better, thanks little droid.” Cal said as he starts getting up “Okay, let’s try this again.” Cal goes to cut the wires again until he felt a tug on his leg, “Cal it looks like someone’s attached to you.” You said gently nudging his side “okay then, hop on board.” Cal said placing BD on his shoulders, “so how’d you get here?” Cal asked BD, BD responded “Don’t remember? I’ve never known a forgetful droid.” BD responded back “Well I can’t argue with that.”

As you followed Cal out you noticed at times, he would spot an area and hold out his hand, it confused you was there something that you didn’t, “Cal?” “Yeah?” “Do you see something I don’t?” You asked, Cal came to stop. “I can feel the force, it’s almost like an echo if that makes sense. It’s almost like I can read someone’s stories and emotions through it.” You titled your head “Can every Jedi do that?” You asked, “I’m not sure, I think it’s rare I was just born with it I guess.” You hum.

“That’s neat.” “Is it?” “You can connect to someone’s story; I think that’s neat.” You said to him, “I thought you told me not to get used to getting compliments from you.” You were about to make a remark at him back, until you saw how close you two were getting to the vault. “Here I think we just have to zipline down.” Cal said, you nodded in agreement “I’ll go first.” You waited your turn as Cal zipped line down to a cliff, you followed after. As you got to the cliff BD let out a few chirps, “I don’t think we can go that way BD.” Cal said to him, “I think I can get to that cliff using my jetpack, but I’m not sure if I would be able to carry you.” You told Cal.

“Don’t worry about it, I’ll find my way up there. I’ll meet you there?” You were hesitating about it, Cere told you both to stick together, but Cal did have a lightsaber and BD with him. “Okay be careful.” You told him “Are you starting to warm up to me? I feel safer now being on good terms with a Mandalorian.” Cal teased again “CAL!” You got ready to punch his shoulder, but Cal quickly jumped down dodging your attack. You sighed as you flew onto the edge of the cliff, as you slowly walked towards the vault you realized it didn’t have an opening.

“How the heck is Cal going to get inside?” You mumbled. You decided to take off your helmet, Cal wasn’t here, and you were positive nobody was here besides you guys. The wind felt nice and so did the sun against your skin, as you looked out you started to realize how peaceful Bogano was besides the creatures who resided on Bogano. Maybe that’s why cordova decided to live here? You wondered what you would’ve been doing now if the empire didn’t take over, would you have traveled the universe to different planets or stayed on Mandalore? You heard a sudden noise and quickly you put on your helmet, that’s when you saw Cal and BD. “Hey! How’d it go?’ you asked as BD and Cal jogged up to you, “I… actually reconnected with the force.”

“Cal, what do you mean?” You three made your way to the vault as Cal started to explain to you what he meant, “after the purge and… the death of my master I lost my connection with the force, so I forgot a few of my training. Somehow, I was able to reconnect to the force and I picked up a trick.” Before you could ask what, he remembered the three of you were finally at the top of the vault. Cal placed his hand on what seemed to be a gold-like wall, you watched as he closed his eyes almost like he was focusing on it. Suddenly you saw the wall slide up, both you and Cal looked at each other.

“I should probably stay out here.” You told him, he only nodded “Be careful in there.” “You too.” You watched as Cal disappear inside the vault, as you patiently wait for Cal you noticed something moving in the water in front of the vault. You decided to go see what it was, you knew there were creatures on Bogano. Yet you haven’t encountered much of them or had to shoot at one, as you got closer a large creature emerged from the water and it did not look friendly at all. “Shit!” you shouted as you dodged out of the way as the creature tried attacking you, what in the maker was it?! You said to yourself as you focused on not getting crushed by that thing.

You took out your blaster and began to shoot at it, you’re not sure how many times you would have to continue to attack it before it finally left you alone. As you tried dodging its attack again it was able to graze your leg, you let out a painful grunt. You heard someone running behind you, it was Cal he quickly turned on his lightsaber and attacked the creature. “Are you alright?” he asked as he stood in front of you guarding you in case the creature tried attacking you again, “I’m fine, it was just able to graze my leg a bit.” You said as you stood up, “I can still fight if that’s what you’re asking.” You pointed your blaster at the creature and that’s when you two began to attack it, thankfully with Cal at your side the fight didn’t last too long.

“Do you need a stim?” Cal asked as he turned off his lightsaber, you notice his eyes scan down to your leg. “I have bacta back at my room, I’ll be fine. What did you find out?” You asked as you place your blaster away, “There’s a holocron that contains the future for force-sensitive children.” When Cal told you that you could see the way his eyes light up in happiness “Cal, that’s great.” You said as you both made the journey back to the Mantis, once arriving back you saw Cere outside waiting.

“You passed the test.” “So, you knew about BD-1?” “C’mon board, we’ll take inside.”

You and Cal made your way inside the Mantis, once inside BD-1 jumped off Cal’s shoulder “Oh, BD-1 this is Greez. Hey, Greez.” Cal said, BD-1 quickly jumped on the sofa “what is that?” BD-1 chirped “Get off my sofa! Get… Get off my sofa! Go! Get outta there, Get out!” Greez said as he chased BD-1. BD-1 quickly took cover on your shoulder instead of Cal’s, almost like he was telling Greez that he has a Mandalorian to protect him. “That’s BD-1.” Cal said look over at you both, “He’s with us.”

“I don’t care who’s he with. Do you have any idea how hard it is to get oil stains out of potolli-weave fabric?” “Not really.” Cal said as he walked away from Greez and stood near you and BD-1, “Oh, I hope you found something better out there than this droid.” Greez complained, “Oh calm down greez he did.” Cere said.

“Tell us Cal.” “The vault was built by an ancient civilization called the Zeffo, A Jedi named Eno Cordova hide something inside of it.” “What did he hide inside?” Cere asked. “A holocron from the archives, it contains a list of force-sensitive children.” “The next generation of Jedi. I knew it! Ah Cordova you old fool.”

“You knew him?” Cal asked, “Yes, a long time ago. I was his apprentice. Cordova was a loner, that little droid and I are probably the only ones that know about Bogona.” Cere said. “Hold on, wait a minute, wait a minute. A holo-what?” Greez asked. “A holocron, it stores information, but only accessible to Jedi. Hang on I think I have one around here.” Cere said as she left to go grab it, the four you follow behind. Cere holds what seems to be a small box, she hands it to Cal “Use the force.” As Cal focuses on it, the box begins to open.

“This is Master Obi-Wan Kenobi, I regret to report that both our Jedi Order and the Republic have fallen…”

The box closes ending the message, “with that list of force-sensitives, we could rebuild the Jedi Order and defeat the empire.” “Okay no problem. Let’s get it.” Greez says as he starts walking towards the cockpit, “Expect the holocron is hidden deep inside the Vault and to get it we have to follow Cordova’s path, he mentioned something about the planet Dathomir and a Zeffo homeworld.” Cal explained “Alright, well where are we going? I’m just asking, ‘cause I was thinking of maybe making some food.” Greez said.

“Look, before we do anything. I need to know something.” Cal sat as he looked over at Cere “How come you’re no longer a Jedi?” You watched as Cere casted her eyes down “I had an experience that… changed my perspective, So I cut myself off from the force.”

“But you still want to rebuild the order?”

“I believe that rebuilding the order is the best chance we have against the Empire, what do you believe?” Cere asked Cal, you saw he hesitated to answer before saying “I believe I can’t keep hiding from the Empire. So, I really don’t have a choice.” “Cal as long as you’re alive you will always have a choice, are you with us?” Cere asked, Cal looked over at you then to BD-1 who was still perched on your shoulder. “We’re in.” he said as BD-1 chirped happily “Dathomir or Zeffo? It’s your choice.” Cal walked over to the Holotable and picked Zeffo for the next destination “Hey kid, what happened to your leg?” Greez asked, shit you forgot all about that “some creature, I’m going to go clean it up.” You say as you leave to your room, you placed BD-1 down on your bed. You go to take off your helmet until you realize BD was with you, but… it wouldn’t count right? He’s not a living thing technically. BD-1 beeped curiously, you slowly take off your helmet and place it down on your bed, you watch as BD-1 starts scanning it.

“Do you have a thing for studying things?” you asked, and BD-1 chirped, “I’ll take that as a yes.” You say as you find the bacta and start cleaning your leg, “Maker I didn’t realize that it got me that badly.” You say to BD, you heard a knock on your door “Busy come again later.” “It’s Cal is BD with you?” he asked from the other side of the door, you picked up your helmet and put it back on before opening the door for Cal.

“Sorry I couldn’t find BD anywhere.” “No worries he was just watching me try to clean up my leg, apparently he likes scanning things.” “I’ve noticed.” Cal said as he walked inside your room, “Hey I can help put the bacta on your leg.” He said as he starts kneeling to where your leg was “Don’t worry I can do it.” For some reason though Cal didn’t get up instead he held his hand out waiting for you to hand him the bacta, “Cal… you’re so stubborn.” You said as you handed him the bacta, Cal is careful to extend your leg a bit towards him. He starts to gently clean at the wound, as Cal was focused on your leg, he didn’t notice you staring at him.

Usually whenever you got an injury you never really allowed someone to help you, but why did you allow Cal to help you? Maybe it was because he insisted on helping you while others would allow you to do it yourself? Who knows you decided to look over at BD who was staring at Cal, “done.” You heard Cal say, “nice work on the bandages.” You said as you lifted your leg onto your bed “I think I did a pretty good job.” “You did, thanks for helping me.” You say to him, “you’re going to rest for a bit?” he asked.

“Yeah, the trip to Bogona tired me a bit.” Cal nodded “I’ll let you know when we get to Zeffo.” “Thanks Cal.” You heard your door open and the close, you made sure to lock it before removing your helmet and placing it on your workbench. Your eyes start to slowly close and you start to dream of your childhood on Mandalore.

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frunbuns · 1 year

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Everything Jaro Tapal Dies not Knowing

Jaro Tapal dies on the day of the purge. He does not know why the clones have suddenly turned on him and Cal, and he never will. He only knows that something terrible has happened, but he will never learn the true scope of this event. How this will shape the future of the Jedi.

He dies in an escape pod with his scared and confused padawan. His padawan who is just a little boy, barely twelve years old and terrified beyond his mind. His padawan who is being so brave in the face of such terror.

Jaro Tapal dies before their escape pod even enters Bracca’s atmosphere.

[Or; Jaro Tapal dies not knowing a lot of things, but most importantly: He dies not knowing the Jedi Order has been destroyed and that there will be no one to take care of Cal when he is gone.]

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wrencatte · 2 months

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mini-fic 3! Cere POV. linguist!Cal, Mantis Crew as Family, Merrin & Cal bonding 1.2k words

“This one?”

Cal squints at it for half a second, says “yes,” then looks back down.

“What about this one?”

“Yes.”

“You didn’t even look!”

“Greez, that’s the third time you’ve shown me that one.”

“No, it – oh, wait, haha, yeah it is. Okay. Let me see….”

Cere watches in fond amusement as Greez goes back to the shelves. Merrin comes over with a tome from deeper within the city library and angles it in a way Cal can look at it without straining his neck. His expression brightens and he takes it, running his fingers over the edges and corners.

There’s a slight twist in the Force that Cere’s beginning to learn means he found an echo. She has to focus pretty hard to feel it so she only pays it enough attention to be sure Cal’s not about to fall into anything nasty – not that she can do anything about it if he does, but she likes to be prepared – and tunes back into the softly murmured conversation between Merrin and Cal.

The Nightsister looks absolutely delighted at having found something in a language Cal doesn’t recognize, all quiet pride and subtle preening. Cere hides a smile behind her hand. Adorable. Cal flips the tome open and the two of them duck heads, Cal underlining a few words with his finger and saying something that Merrin repeats. He shakes his head and says it again. Her face twists in thought as she sounds it out before giving it voice and he nods rapidly, grinning. She smiles back, one of those small soft ones that pops up whenever it’s just her and Cal.

Cere is just about to go back to her own readings when Greez arrives, BD-1 whirling on his shoulder, a book held over his head in triumph.

“Ha! Try this on for size!”

Cal takes the book carefully. “I know this one,” he tells Greez, who groans in disappointment. “But, oh wow.” He flips through a few pages, lips moving as he reads the text silently to himself. “I can’t believe they have a book written in pre-Reformation Gwyrdd’tafodi. Do you know how rare that is? When they switched over, they deliberately destroyed all they could! An archivist hid this away for a hundred years in order to get it safely off the planet. It kept getting passed down the family line until one of them got passage on a ship.”

Greez crosses one set of arms, his free hands on his hips. He watches Cal fondly as the young Jedi’s excitement grows with every page flip. “You know, I would’ve never pegged you as such a gigantic nerd.”

“Jedi were scholars and peacekeepers before they were soldiers,” Cere says quietly. A hush falls on the group. Cal ducks down, shoulders hunching, eyes kept resolutely on the page though it’s obvious he’s not reading a single word. She smiles and adds lightly, “We’re all nerds.”

Cal laughs first, tinged with grief and legitimate delight. He tucks the book Greez brought under the one Merrin showed him, which makes Merrin throw Greez a smirk and for the latero to throw his crossed arms up in the air in a huff. Cere rolls her eyes fondly and catches Cal’s gaze. He grins, unrepentant, enjoying whatever contest is going on between their friends. It gets Cal more books without him getting up, so he’s not going to stop them.

Greez’s frustration is amusing to watch, especially when he snatches BD from scanning the book Cal has open so he can co-opt the droid’s database to help find a language Cal doesn’t know. It’s not helping. BD-1’s database might be filled with years and years of history and culture but knowing the intimate details of a language instead of just a simple dictionary is completely different.

Merrin listens to Cal read out loud for a few minutes, humming at all the right moments, but obviously thinking hard about something. Cere gives up on reading her book and focuses on the two of them, curious as to what’s going to happen next.

“How many languages do you know?”

Cal’s teeth click he stops talking so fast. “I don’t know,” he admits with a shrug. “Sometimes I don’t even realize I know a language until I see or hear it again. Sometimes not even then! It doesn’t always register it as a different language. It’s just…words I understand.”

She tilts her head, expression intense. “Could you learn Dathomiri?”

He grins and quips something in the smokey, gritty sounding language of Dathomir. Merrin’s eyes widen, and then, suddenly, they glimmer with a wetness both Cere and Cal pretend they don’t see.

Knuckles pressed to her lips, she breathes a very quiet, “oh,” before clearing her throat and adding roughly, “Your accent is terrible.”

“Is it though?” Cal asks smugly.

Merrin scowls. “I will teach you more…if you want to learn.”

Cal’s expression softens. “I would love to. Thank you for sharing it with me.” He adds something in Dathomiri at the end that has Merrin abruptly turning back to their shared book, expression pained and grieving.

Cere nudges the Nightsister with a tendril of the Force and gets a small smile in response. They don’t share the same bond as Jedi do, but theirs is enough for Cere to believe her. She settles back in her chair, musing on what her life has become, sharing a bond with a Nightsister, before she shrugs it off and fully intends on finally going back to her reading with Merrin and Cal’s back-and-forth as a background noise.

Except Greez comes back again, the book he carries is much thinner than any of the ones stacked around Cal like a barrier. BD-1 clicks excitedly and Greez is grinning smugly as he waves the book in the air.

“Did you know this place has an unknown language section? Guess who found it!” he all but brags. Merrin frowns, nose wrinkling while Cal laughs brightly and holds out a hand for the book.

Greez slaps it in his hand, earning a scandalized look from one of the librarians. Merrin and Cere laugh as he hunches down with quick apologies. Cal inspects the book carefully. If there are any echoes, they’re soft and quick. He grins.

“Congratulations, Greez, I don’t know this one.”

The latero cheers silently, all four arms thrown up in victory.

Merrin rolls her eyes. “You still lost. I found one first.”

Cal hums. “Best two out of three? This place is open for another five hours.”

The two of them exchange looks for a full second before Merrin jumps out of her chair and rushes into the depths of the library. Greez yelps and follows her as fast as he can without running. Cere hides her face, as though that will keep people from realizing they’re with her. Cal laughs, covering his mouth with his book. His eyes peek over, glittering in mirth. He pulls the book away, and holds it to his cheek, leaning in like he has a secret. Cere can’t help but lean in to hear it.

“I already know the language,” he admits.

Cere blinks at him then laughs loudly – nearly getting them kicked out of the library.

#cal kestis #cere junda #nightsister merrin #greez dritus #sw jfo #jfo fic #mantis crew #my writing #there's an alt version of this that's more bittersweet and 200 words more #it brings in the Order of the Dai Bendu and the Dai Bendu language #I just couldn't decide which version I liked more and went with the funny one instead #if anyone wants me to post the other version lemme know #that's if someone reads this far into the tags lol #i need to figure out how to get these onto ao3 #i don't want individual stories but i haven't posted a drabble/ficlet fic in a long long time #and even then the last one i did were full 5k+ oneshot chapters #oh well #imma stop talking now

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