#a lot are obi-wan. which is fair enough

[protagonistscum]

star wars time travel fix-it my beloved

[david-talks-sw]

How the narrative framed Mace Windu, back in 2002

So there's this 2002 book written by Marcus Hearn, edited by J.W. Rinzler, titled Attack of the Clones - The Illustrated Companion. It was released a month before Episode II was released.

AKA, before EU material and anti-Jedi fanon could publicly reframe the meanings of the film... and before more recent narratives could reinterpret the character of Mace as a robotic, protocol-worshipping stickler who never bends the rules (when evidence shows he's anything but).

So how does Marcus Hearn - "untainted" by all the above factors, armed only with the Prequel films and their screenplays - frame the character of Mace Windu?

MACE & ANAKIN

Fandom: "Mace hated Anakin from Day #1 and never trusted him. Mace was probably jealous as he always thought he was the Chosen One, not Anakin!"

Attack of the Clones' - The Illustrated Companion:

"Jedi Masters Yoda and Mace Windu lead the High Council in rejecting Qui-Gon's application to train Anakin, 'He is too old,' concludes Mace Windu. 'There is already too much anger in him.'

Hearn explains that the problem with Anakin wasn't that he was just too old, it's that because of that age he had become too filled with fear and anger to a point where taking on the Jedi training would be twice as hard for him as it already was for everyone else.

Hearn doesn't chastise Mace for this initial decision. On the contrary, he adds more context to it by using a line from the screenplay to explain where Mace is coming from.

He also goes further into Mace's view of Anakin throughout the book:

"[Mace] over-estimates Anakin Skywalker, paying little credence to Obi-Wan's protestations that the boy is too confused and disturbed to be dispatched on a solo mission."

"The Jedi Council is aware of Anakin's exceptional skills, and Mace Windu believes Anakin may fulfill the prophecy that says a being will one day bring balance to the Force. But Anakin still has a lot to learn…"

He's basically stating that Mace believes in Anakin, but that doing so is a mistake. Which, to be fair, considering how things turn out for Mace and the Jedi... is kinda true!

Mace's problem with Anakin is almost the opposite of what most of the fandom projects onto him.

It's not that he dislikes Anakin, on the contrary, he holds Anakin in too high of an esteem and is overlooking Anakin's glaring flaws because "hey, Anakin's the Chosen One. He's got this!"

That's not the only flaw Mace has, according to Hearn.

MACE'S (and the Jedi's) ONLY REAL FLAW

Fandom: "Mace and the Jedi had become too emotionally detached, they had lost touch with the common folk by spending too much time in their ivory tower. They focused so much on being selfless that they forgot how to care, they've become a bunch of elitist, righteous sticklers for protocol who care more about upholding laws than actually helping the people those laws are meant to protect!"

Attack of the Clones' - The Illustrated Companion:

"Although he is a senior member of the Jedi Council, little in Mace Windu's experience has prepared him for the looming threats of the dark side of the Force and Count Dooku's Separatists."

"Mace Windu's faith in the Jedi to protect the Republic is admirable, but it also blinds him to the true scale of the growing menace. He is aware that the dark side is growing, but still allows himself to be too easily reassured about the Separatists' ambitions. [...] Mace fatally misjudges Count Dooku, refusing to believe he could be behind any attempt on Senator Amidala's life. 'Dooku was once a ledi, he tells Padmé. 'He couldn't assassinate anyone. It's not in his character.'"

"Mace Windu's strengths are, in many ways, qualities shared by the Jedi Order as a whole - he is an accomplished diplomat and a fine swordsman. Such skills have served the Jedi well in their role as the galaxy's peacekeepers for a thousand generations. But such skills are not enough to save the Jedi from their own complacency, and the tumultuous changes that threaten to wipe them out forever."

Hearn perfectly grasps what the Jedi's only real flaw is, in George Lucas' intended narrative: they were unprepared, complacent, they were blind... and now they're stuck playing catch-up.

But when he's saying that, he's not blaming them for it. Because this flaw doesn't derive from some sense of elitism or superiority... it is an inevitable consequence of their qualities.

They've managed to stay out of politics as neutral diplomats... ... but that makes them vulnerable to the Sith's plot, which primarily takes place within the political arena, where they have no control or experience.

They are painfully aware of the corruption in the Senate... ... but as a result, they're too quick to trust the Separatist's talking points as well-meaning and genuine, instead of seeing the movement for what it really is: greedy big business trying to become the government.

They trust and agree with Dooku, believe in what he publicly stands for (after all this man used to be one of the wisest and kindest members of the Jedi Order, Mace's friend, Yoda's Padawan, etc)... ... but as such, they are blind to his true nature, that of a treacherous Sith who'd stoop to orchestrating assassinations.

The Jedi have their guard up, knowing that there's another Sith Lord still out there, orchestrating in the shadows... ... but they can't really find him, because the Dark Side has clouded everything, so only darksiders are able to sense the possibilities of the future! Them serving the good side is screwing them over, in this situation.

Flaws such as being too trusting or being unprepared, letting your guard down because you've established a 1000-year-peace, are flaws that kind, noble characters such as the Jedi are bound to have.

They may be flaws, but they aren't faults. And considering the way he describes Mace and the Jedi, it's clear Hearn grasps the nuance.

MACE'S RELUCTANCE TO JOIN THE WAR

Fandom: The Jedi joined the war out of arrogance, they thought they could swashbuckle their way through the problem and win, instead they didn't realize that they lost the very moment they joined.

Attack of the Clones' - The Illustrated Companion:

"Mace Windu believes in the Jedi as keepers of the peace - not as soldiers - but there comes a point when he reluctantly realizes that it is time to take affairs out of the realm of diplomacy."

Mace and the Jedi didn't want to start a war. If you read the script for Attack of the Clones, Mace and Bail keep grasping at straws to not engage with the Separatists up til the very end.

But when you consider that...

the Geonosians are about to execute Obi-Wan without a trial,

and the Separatists leaders have been unmasked as a coalition of unscrupulous corporate assholes who are willing to plunge the galaxy in chaos just to make more money.

... at some point, the Jedi have to come to terms with the fact that Separatist leadership (and Sidious) won't accept diplomacy because they want a conflict. A conflict will make them all richer. And the Republic, well, they're just dying to go to war too.

So the Jedi go save Obi-Wan and capture Dooku, hoping that in doing so, the conflict ends before it begins. They succeed in the former goal... but fail the latter one.

The Clone War has begun.

From there on, the Jedi are drafted to lead the war. Which is why - as Hearn points out - Mace was so reluctant to take action in the first place. The Jedi are ambassadors, they are not built for war... and now they've been forced into one.

Mace is by no means a perfect character... but he's someone doing his best. Just like Obi-Wan, just like Yoda, and all the other Jedi.

Overtime, Windu's character has been dumbed down to either "that one angry black man" or "the dogmatic emotionless dick who hated Anakin"... and I really think that that's not what we were meant to see him as.

The way Marcus Hearn (who also wrote The Cinema of George Lucas) refers to him is a much more charitable interpretation of how others (ahem Filoni ahem) do, nowadays.

[dduane]

I just saw from your comment on the shrinkflation post that you’re also lactose intolerant with IBS. So listen. This weekend I made Nutella-stuffed chocolate chip cookies, and in doing so realised Nutella is a HUGE trigger for me. It’s been years since I ate it so it came as a total surprise. And the cookies were Amazing, so this is just crushing.

Anyway I see your post and I think, you’ve probably been doing this a while, I’ve seen on other posts that you like chocolate, perhaps you have also encountered this issue and have found a Nutella replacement that’s actually good?

Help me Obi Wan.

I wish I could be sure to be of some genuine help here, as IBS seems to be one of those Every Person Their Own Test Tube things. I may get good mileage out of a strategy, but yours may seriously vary.

Re: chocolate: I don't seem to be bothered by it as such. It's the associated milk content that seems to cause me the most problems, so I watch the package labeling closely for that—and fortunately EU package labeling as regards allergens and triggers is, by and large, very good.

I've been using the Monash University FODMAP method of helping to control IBS, but am surprised to find that its associated app doesn't seem to say anything about Nutella. (Which strikes me as a bit weird, but I may be searching incorrectly.) ...Casa de Sante (which is a third-party site that sells "gut supplements") suggests that Nutella is low-FODMAP due to containing fairly low amounts of known triggers. So, all right, that's nice.... but I'll still take that assessment with a grain of salt, as these are people who want to sell you IBS-adjacent supplements.

Here's where things get complicated, though. I do occasionally have a little Nutella (or the non-branded version of it that we get from our local supplier of baking goods, Kells Wholemeal.) And because I carefully restrain myself, I haven't as yet had any problems, because I always take a lactase supplement—a.k.a. Lactaid or similar—along with them. Because lactase is (relatively) cheap, and spending two or three days swollen up and in pain from having gotten careless with myself is not.

As regards the branded stuff, though, there's a problem. European Nutella and US Nutella are not the same animal... and the US version of Nutella is apparently disquietingly cagey about its labeling. It's apparently difficult to tell whether the portion size of the Nutella you're ingesting has enough skimmed milk powder and/or whey in it to set your lactose intolerance off.

My advice to you would be this (and as usual, you know what advice that costs you nothing tends to be worth... But anyway): don't eat Nutella without taking a Lactaid or similar first. Two reasons: (a) To cover your butt. (b) To help act in establishing a basis for any further diagnostics you need to do. If you have some Nutella after having taken lactase, and still have internal trouble afterwards, then it's a fair bet something else in the stuff is triggering the IBS side rather than the lactose-intolerance side of the equation. That soy-based lecithin, for example. I'd be a bit suspicious about that. (Soy, unfortunately, is one of my own triggers. I can still have tofu, but only so, so carefully.)

...And then, after that, act accordingly to what you've discovered. One thing about my intolerance that I do know: it's come and gone without warning* over many years—sometimes receding into the background completely, suddenly getting much worse without apparent rhyme or reason. So an amount of lactose that once wouldn't have troubled you very much might now be one that you have to watch out for. Or else you simply exceeded what is now a wise portion-control amount for you when you got into those cookies.

(sigh) It's the imponderables associated with handling this problem from day to day that are the most annoying aspect of it. I'm not wild about the wariness with which I have to approach a lot of foods these days—not least because this is Ireland, and in this historically heavily-dairy-based culture, food processors will sneak milk into any damn thing without warning. :) But you do what you've gotta do to get by... which means that, outside of the house, I don't put anything in my mouth without having the lactase pills nearby.

Anyway: hope this helps!

*It also doesn't help that my earliest attacks happened before lactose intolerance was widely recognized as being a problem for a significant portion of the planet's population.

[gffa]

This is the most bare-bones recap you could do of “What the fuck is Crimson Dawn?” and it still takes up a page and a half of comics!  It doesn’t even mention Maul’s name!  To be fair, the people recounting this don’t know Maul’s name, so this works narratively, but what gets me is that I really do enjoy how Star Wars is structured, especially with how it’s this giant cascade of dominoes. Think about how complicated all of this is! - Maul is given to Sidious by Mother Talzin, he’s raised as a Sith apprentice - Maul is defeated by Obi-Wan Kenobi, becoming obsessed with revenge on him while living on a garbage planet as a half-Zabrak, half-spider person - Mother Talzin creates a new Sith apprentice for Dooku after Sidious forced him to kill Ventress (not that that worked and now Ventress wants revenge, so she went to Mother Talzin), which is eventually a wash. - Savage goes back to Mother Talzin and she sends him on a quest to bring back her son Maul, where she cures Maul’s madness and gives him more Zabrak-style legs, and they go try to kill Obi-Wan and fail at it again. - They float around in a dead ship until rescued by Death Watch, whom they ally with to create a Shadow Collective, in a bid to appear as villains for Mandalore to fight, so Death Watch can swoop in as heroes and win the people’s support to depose Duchess Satine Kryze. - Basically, two Force-sensitives (and honestly Maul could have probably done it himself) were enough to force the Pykes and Black Sun to agree to work with them, even though neither group wanted to. - They also tried to force the Hutts to join, but they refused, so Maul killed Oruba the Hutt (the only one in person at the meeting instead of on holo) and then go to Tatooine to kill Jabba, who decides, okay, he’ll join the Shadow Collective after all. - The plan on Mandalore is put in place, the Shadow Collective attacks Mandalore, Death Watch looks like heroes, Pre Vizsla is the puppet master of the Prime Minister they install, Death Watch tries to betray Maul and Savage, but they’re like, dipshit, we’re Sith Lords and fight their way to Pre’s throne room.  Maul challenges him to a fight, Maul wins, Bo-Katan Kryze (who was part of Death Watch up to this point) refuses to let a non-Mandalorian rule Mandalore (since Maul has taken up the Darksaber that Pre had and leads Death Watch and thus Mandalore now) and leaves. - Sheev Palpatine/Darth Sidious decides Maul’s become enough of a thorn in his side to deal with this, goes to Mandalore, kills Savage, puts Maul in prison and dusts off his hands like no big deal. - Maul is rescued by members of Death Watch and the puppet prime minister who are loyal to him, wins back the Darksaber, returns to Mandalore, sets up another trap to try to lure Obi-Wan there, gets Ahsoka instead (along with a whole lot of Republic troops, because Bo-Katan asked for a Republic intervention, by way of having Ahsoka ask for it), they battle it out and are relatively evenly matched, but he eventually loses.  This is the Siege of Mandalore, which puts the Republic there riiiiiiight as the Republic is turning into the Empire. - So everything goes pear-shaped in the galaxy, as the Jedi genocide is enacted, chaos erupts everywhere.  When the clones attack Ahsoka because of Order 66, she frees Maul to cause chaos and he destroys the core of the engines, forcing the ship down, but he himself escapes. - Maul regroups again and takes over Crimson Dawn, but uses Dryden Vos as a figurehead.  Vos has an assistant named Qi’ra, who is the first love of Han Solo, and when he crashes back into her life, things go pear-shaped again, resulting in a big adventure that ends with Dryden Vos’ death and Qi’ra stepping up to take his place as Maul’s new figurehead. - Qi’ra learns much about the Sith from Maul and, after his death, she takes over Crimson Dawn for real and begins to plot how to take down the Sith Lord Darth Sidious, aka Emperor Palpatine. As much ridiculous bullshit as Star Wars often is, I love that they genuinely have a galaxy that is connected together, that one plot ripples out in these surprisingly massive waves.  You don’t get to any one point on this timeline without the other points happening first, just like you don’t get to the OT without the events of the prequels happening first, you don’t get the Empire without the Republic and the Separatists both. In many ways, Star Wars is separated into periods of time, the films still largely define different eras, but there is a throughline with so much of it, the political timeline spans decades in this universe, you can follow the trail all the way back to The Phantom Menace and even earlier.  Yeah, Star Wars is often silly bullshit, but I appreciate the dedication to showing that ramifications happen when major political and criminal upheavals happen!

[anakinskywalker97]

3 - The Rise of Skywalker

Darth Vader x Ex-Padawan Reader

Chapter Three: Failure

Summary: Vader confronts his mother and gets to see how you've been living all these years.

Warnings: slow burn I promise I have all kinds of smut for this but I'm just too attached to them not to have plot.

Vader's mind swirled with dreams of Tatooine. He was with his mother again, not being eaten by death, or beaten by slave masters, just sitting and eating in the kitchen. When he woke up to the sound of kitchen sounds he was sad that he was on Tatooine, beside a kitchen, but his mother was lost. Obi-Wan had started on breakfast sounding more like a Summa-verminoth than a Jedi. He took a breath and tried to calm himself, feeling you drooling on his shoulder brought him back down. Out of curiosity, he dipped into your mind wondering if this new force bond would let him into your dreams.

You woke with a start hands gripping onto him tightly. Your eyes wide trying to find what was wrong.

Sorry - He said realizing his error. - Wanted to see what you were dreaming about.

Kriff - you laid back down on him and he listened as your heart hammered.- I thought you were warning me.

It was a fair assumption, there had been lots of times he’d had to wake you up that way and needed you ready to fight during the war. You continued to cling to him breathing the air off his skin as different sensation moving through you. Eventually, you let out a laugh at Obi-Wan’s clanking around in the kitchen.

“We're decent.” You spoke out loud, the clanging lessened considerably.

“Breakfast is almost ready.” He called back. You got up and stretched, the bottom of your top exposing the flesh of your stomach. Your eyes caught him looking and you gave him a wide smile. You went to the bathroom and Vader went into the kitchen.

Obi-Wan had made himself quite a home. He moved gracefully around the small kitchen in his sleep clothes and an apron. Vader laughed at the sight. A genuine laugh, striking his own ears as strange. His former masker turned to look at him and he saw that he was even wearing a headband to keep his hair out of his face while sleeping. The tears forming in his eyes irritated them, but the sting wasn't enough to take away the pure hilarity of Obi-Wan’s state of undress.

Something misty moved into Obi-Wan’s presence as a sad smile formed on his face.

“That’s a sound I haven't heard since, oh gosh I would say the time Windu missed a step on the stairs to the chancellor's office.” He laughed at the memory of 13-year-old Anakin howling with laughter. The memory held the usual painful sting of the abuse suffered in that setting, but the memory made him continue to laugh. He thought it was the funniest thing to ever happen. Obi-Wan had to usher him out into an elevator because his voice was echoing around the main lobby.

Obi-Wan’s eyes held an emotion that Vader certainly could not handle. Obi-Wan knew this and turned back to the stove. Vader moved his attention to you. You had washed up and were starting to fold the blankets in the living room. He was going to get up when you called out to him.

Stay - So he did. It only took you a few minutes and he watched the sunlight pour in through the windows bathing the clay walls in light. It would be hot and hurt like hell. But being in the light surrounded by family made him happy.

______________

You watched Anakin closely. His moods seemed to be leveling out which was good. Other than his brief thought about murdering you and Obi-Wan he’d appeared to be coming down from whatever bullshit Palpatine had him cooked up on. Then there was the deeper truth of the situation eating you.

At his core, according to lore, Anakin was a Sith.

He was made by the Sith for the Sith. They willed him into existence, and the force chose his mother. The real question is, does that mean he’s incapable of choosing good? Is the dark side of the force really that separate from the light? You kept these observations and thoughts well hidden in your mind.

Hearing him laugh added years onto the end of your life. That laugh was so sweet, all the times you had been the cause you could remember as they were so rare. The laugh he gave Obi-Wan was a genuine laugh, careless and loud, completely different from the chuckle you could occasionally earn during the war.

The three of you ate together and discussed plans. Anakin wanted to see his mother’s grave before leaving. You took the ship over to the location and landed it. You stood at the edge of the ramp not wanting to intrude but also curious about what his beginnings looked like.

Stay here - he said firmly. Something was bothering him and you assumed it was the intense heat landing on his raw skin. Even fully covered it would hurt badly.

I will - you answered watching him walk out into the sand halfway and then stop. He turned back to look at you for a moment before his shoulders slumped slightly.

Come with me - His voice sounded frustrated and defeated at the same time. You moved out into the heat and walked through the sand. As soon as he reached you he pulled your hood up over your head. You had taken one of his fancy black robes from his ship and fully intended to never give it back. You walked a distance before you saw the little marker made of wood. It was freshly painted meaning someone here cared enough to maintain it. Surely that should improve his mood.

You looked out on the horizon while he knelt before his mother’s grave.

“I failed again.” He said simply. He put his hand in the sand and was quiet. “This is my former Padawan.” You came to stand beside him and sat down when you realised he was going to talk about you.

“Hi” You said softly, not entirely sure if you were supposed to speak or not.

“I let her down too, and Qui-Gon, and Obi-Wan, and The Order. I said I wasnt going to mess it up again but I really messed it up this time.”

There was something about his voice that made you able to look at him and see who he was as a child. The rest of the things he said he did not speak out loud.

“She brought me back and this time, I’ll try to do it right.” He took a deep breath. “Here at the end of everything, I will get it right. I promise.”

You gave him a reassuring smile and grabbed his hand.

“He’s in good hands. I won’t fail him again.” The words were heavy, but if she were here it’s exactly what you would have said to her. Anakin’s eyes were sharp on you for a long moment but you didn't break contact with the sand in front of you. You ran your fingers through it and you felt a feeling of hate wash over him. On instinct, your body prepared you for a fight.

Anakin reached over and you let him pull your hand away from the sand. You wondered if it was a customs thing. Before you could apologize he was saying goodbye and was pulling you along. You felt his force presence holding your hood up against the wind. Walking towards the sun, in the wind, through the sand was awful.

“I don’t want to be rude.” You called out against the wind. “But I really hate it here. The heat and light is one thing, but sand.” You groaned. “It’s fucking awful.”

Anakin barked out a laugh so sudden in made you jump.

“Trying living here.” He said in a happier mood.

“Only for you.” You said softly, unsure if he heard it in the wind.

____________________________________________

Vader inspected the road towards your apartment building. It was a seemingly alright area, it was late and this part of the city seemed to be asleep. The building was well-built and on the more expensive side of things. Good security. He followed you down the hall and held your bag while you looked for your keys. The door to your apartment opened and he hated how eager he was to see your space.

It was sparse but homey. A large note was stuck on your fridge. Bright red letters saying “CALL ME” You pulled it down and sighed. Your kitchen and living room were divided by a large island. A large balcony wrapped around the living room, something he wasn't too keen on. Sure you were on the 150th floor, but still. Sliding glass doors were unacceptable. His attention went back to the note posted on the fridge.

“Obi-Wan, the spare bedroom is on the right, the sheets are clean if you want to settle in.” Obi-Wan gave a nod and said goodnight. You turned to him. “Two options for you, I'm on the left or you can take the-” He had already started down the hallway to your room. He could hear your phone call form there as he looked around.

This looked more like what the inside of your mind felt like. Two large bookcases filled with worn paperbacks. You bed was a messy of blankets, quilts, and pillows. You had pictures on your wall and stuff cluttering the tops of your dressers.

“Hey.” He heard you say on the phone and listened in. He couldn't make out what the person on the end of the line was saying but they were shouting at you. He moved down the hallway into the kitchen. If you were in trouble he wanted to know about it.

“I know it was stupid.” You said pinching the bridge of your nose. You were leaning on the countertop. He picked you up by the hips and you made a sound of surprise. He turned you and sat you on the countertop. He stood between your legs giving you no personal space. “Sorry, it’s nothing.” You said hurriedly. He liked this game. His hands trailed up your thighs and he watched you squirm.

“How did you escape him?” A female voice asked. He assumed it was a friend by the concerned but angry tone.

“I didn't escape exactly - Look I sort of -” Your voice was nervous.

“Please tell me you didn't do something stupid.” He realized the voice on the other end of the phone was Ahsoka. He was surprised for a moment, then happy that your friendship had survived everything.

“No, I definitely did something stupid. But I’m home now, and I’m safe. We can figure everything else out later.”

“Just - Call me in the morning and don’t leave like that again.” She was angry with you.

“I’ll try not to.”

“Thank you. Now to go to sleep.” Ahsoka seemed happy with your apology.

“I will, I’ll give you all the details later. Just don’t tell anyone I’m back. I’m still sort of working on something.”

“Kriff.” Ahsoka sighed. “That’s never a good thing. Talk to you in the morning.” She hung up and you looked up at Vader.

“How is she?” He asked enjoying the way the kitchen light illuminated your eyes.

“She’s pissed. But other than that she’s doing well.” Your eyes were honest and he was happy. Knowing you were tired he picked you up and carried you to your room. He threw you down on the bed and started to properly snoop through your things. He’d hold up the odd item and you would tell him about the story behind it. Something you had picked up or been given as a gift on your many travels as a smuggler.

He opened your dresser drawer, curious to see what you normally wore. You were still in a rebel flight suit with one of his robes. Denim and cotton. No Jedi linens, however, your closet was full of long robes of varying thickness. He could feel you watching him, but he didn't care. He was enjoying himself too much. Your clothes were nice, soft, clean and well kept.

“What are you doing?” You finally asked sounding slightly exasperated.

“I’m not sure.” He answered honestly. He wanted to know how you were living, maybe wanted to see what his life could have been like. Perhaps he was trying to assess if he could see himself in the space long term. He let his guard down so you could have access to his emotions hoping it would be enough reassurance about his intentions. He was probably being creepy, but he had spent so much time thinking you were dead. To know you had been here occupying space, having things, friends, a ship of your own, a life without him. Suddenly he wanted to know everything, partially to ensure you were alright, the rest was purely selfish.

“Well, you can sift through my underwear till your heart's content. I’m gonna shower and get changed.” You said in a sleepy voice. He wanted nothing more than to shower with you but he knew with the state of his skin it wouldn't be a good idea. “I’ll get you re-bandaged after.”

You went into your attached bathroom and Vader followed. He leaned in the doorway and you smiled at him before taking your clothes off.

“I have a lot of things to catch up on.” He finally said while you turned the shower on. You got in and it was easier for him to open up, he shut the door and sat on the toilet. “I thought you were gone, but you have this whole life. Things, stories, plants” He thought of the cactus on your window sill. It was easier for him to breath with the damp hot air.

“Still not great with plants.” You said.

“Still, I missed out on the one thing I wanted.” The words threatened to crush him but he said them anyway. The one thing he wanted most of all he was told was gone, to find out it was happening without him… Hurt.

“You're here now aren't you?” You turned the shower off and grabbed a clean towel.

“I’m still not sure if I can come back from what I’ve done.” He answered and closed his eyes wanting to avoid your expression to this truth.

“If you leave me again, I’ll kill you. I'll drag you back here and end you” Your voice was serious and he looked over at you. Your hair was twisted up in the towel and you were wrapped in a thick pink bathrobe. He wanted to laugh, but your voice had a power to it he was unsure of. “See, now I’m the dark and possessive one.” You gave him a wide smile. “If you cheat on me though, I’ll hand you over to Ahsoka.”

The concept of cheating on you was completely alien. You had always been the first and last thing on his mind.

“Now get naked.” You commanded and pulled a first aid pack out from under the sink. He got undressed and was happy to see you had a heavy duty kit, while also being troubled as you opened it. It had seen heavy use and had lots of various tubs and jars added to it. You got to work on him and he relaxed letting you do it. You would win if he fought with you, and you were tired.

He let you tell him stories of various jobs you had done while the salve set. You bandaged him nicely. Moving back into your room he looked at the bed feeling unsure again.

“Will the air bother you if I open the window?”

“No.”

You opened it and the night air rushed into the room.

“Have you never had anyone attack through the windows?”

“No one would be that stupid.” You said easily pulling him down on his side of the bed

[marvelstars]

Anidala

I am not personally a big fan of their relationship mostly because romance in movies isn´t really my thing, I an more of an Anakin fan but I like them a lot as their individual characters and I believe the perception SW fandom has of them as a couple isn´t fair in many ways.

To begin with, Lucas purposely made their relationship complicated not because they were not suited for each other but because he wanted to give them a sort of Romeo and Juliet romance that ends in tragedy, not exactly because they could not have overcome their problems but because the context in which they lived actively opposed their relationship.

In Anakin´s and Padmé case, they could not get publicy married because Jedi are not supposed to marry and Padmé didn´t want Anakin to leave the Order for her, especially during the clone wars. She is smart politician who knows the kind of low moral it could bring if a member of the Jedi left their Order just after a war began and Anakin wasn´t going to abandon the Order on their own and Obi-Wan to possibly die alone. This is the reason why Anakin had the plan of staying a Jedi until the war was done and then go live on Naboo with Padme.

The fandom usually calls Anakin selfish for his "attachment" to Padme but being in love and wanting to live with your loved one isn´t attachment, this is him being a realist person, he didn´t want to stay a Jedi if that meant he had to leave his wife and (possible/future) children alone and he wasn´t as arrogant as to insist the Order change their own rules to suit his individual case. So it´s a simple decison of I can´t be two things at once if I am going to be married I will eventually leave the Order.

"I had a mother who loved me" Anakin Skywalker

He already had trouble about the Jedi Order´s possiton on familiar relationships, he didn´t know this when he was made a Jedi as a 9 year old child but he suffered the consequences, his mother being left a slave and lose the chance of seeing her freed and happy with her adopted family. He doesn´t mention this actively but the fact he appreciated and respected the Jedi´s peace keeping ways, their philosphy and ideology doesn´t mean he could not be critical of their stance of keeping their members away from their birth families as part of their tradition, he didn´t want to impose his beliefs but he wasn´t going to follow that tradition when he could live with his family.

So I have the maybe unpopular oppinion that within the context of their relationship, without the stress imposed on it by outside forces, mainly Palpatine and the war, their love was healthy but it´s the kind of love that wasnt convenient for the lifes they led and that in any other universe they could have overcome their situation if Palpatine didn´t deliberately used their relationship agaisnt them to drive Anakin to insanity after a period in which both were emotionally exhausted for living and participating in a war while keeping a secret relationship.

So imo their love and care was good, the children they got out of their relationship was as Anakin said a blessing, the actual attachment, acording to the story only comes to play when Anakin tried to keep Padmé alive at all cost thanks to Palpatine´s manipulations but this wasn´t a decison Anakin made in an usual circunstance, this was a state he fell into after years of war, lack of mental health attention and not being able to sleep for days seeing her die over and over again, knowing for a fact his dreams always became true even if most people didnt believe him.

Lest remember Anakin in the prequel trilogy is a tragic character in the old classic Greek sense, he was a great hero with a fatal flaw that became his undoing. Anakin having prophetic dreams is an active part of the story and his fear of losing Padmé wasn´t irrational, it was him knowing that in many ways, not matter what he did, the people he dreamed dying, died and this was enough to drive him to insanity but in the end, even in this scenario Padmé´s belief in Anakin´s goodness was valid and true, she showing compassion for him after his fall to the darkside wasn´t a flaw it was a strenght and Luke proved his mother right after all those years ago by becoming the one person able to save his father from the darkside, giving way to the end of the Empire, If Padme had gotten Anakin to get back from the darkside 20 years earlier, even if he and her were separated or he was killed after helping defeat the Emperor as a result of Anakin´s actions, it would have ended the Empire sooner.

Outside of this tragic frame, Padmé and Anakin were both idealist children who became outstanding people who truly believed in trying to make a difference with the tools they had, both felt a strong compromise to the Galaxy and to their respective organizations, the Jedi and the Republic but as many other people their age, they also wanted a family and live happily together.

Star Wars is ultimately the story of the Skywalker family facing off Palpatine and his Empire, Padme and Anakin being at different times pupils of The Emperor is actually part of the tragedy, not a result of their love.

[honestlywtfisgoingon]

Politics and Pleasure 2 —Obi-Wan Kenobi

PART 1

obi-wan x padawan!reader (is this a two-shot??)

description: you and obi finally make it back to your shared room

warnings: language, fluff, smut, a run in w ewan’s huge dick

a/n: wow i intended this to be a one-shot but i didn’t expect that many ppl (particularly @cassrage and @ktrivia) to want a part 2, esp bc i haven’t actually written a lot. it’s actually so sweet to hear feedback so pls comment and reblog <3 also this went on a different direction than i meant it to so maybe be prepared for that? idk.

words: 2,639

You didn’t even make it inside the room before Obi was on you, his big plans in mind. Both of his hands held your face to pull you in for a passionate kiss with your back against the ornate door. The luxurious surroundings gave this moment a romance that you usually didn’t get to enjoy.

“What if someone sees?” you laughed, barely managing to get the words out with Obi not wanting your lips to part no matter the reason.

“You have a fair point, my padawan.” he breathed out heavily with his forehead pressed against yours. “It pains me though, to hide. I want nothing more than for everyone to see how much I love you.” he looked down until you lifted your head to make eye contact, brushing your nose against his chin in the process which gained attention. It wasn’t really on purpose, you were just naturally eye level with the edge of his beard and it happened every time you looked up at him.

“I know Obi,” you lamented with him, “but as long as we know we love each other, that’s enough.”

“Maker, you’re incredible,” he whispered before catching your lips once more. He reached behind you, which you assumed was just to hold you until you were tumbling into the room due to his turning the door handle without warning. He was prepared to catch you, of course. He would sooner be ran over by a bantha than let a single hair on your head be harmed, but that didn’t mean he was beyond messing with you. You let out a squeal of surprise at the same time he kicked the door closed behind him. He could no longer hide the neediness he felt back in the conference room.

With one arm already around you, he bent down to hook his other arm under your knees, carrying you over to the bed bridal style. He was beaming down at you all the way there, so completely focused on nothing else that he almost tripped on a pillow that was left lying on the floor. Thoughts of you distracted even his jedi senses which should have warned him of such a minor obstacle. Even then, Obi-Wan wouldn't be the victim of a plushy little pillow, he would be a victim of his love for you.

He laid you gently on the bed and you bit your lip watching him shed his robes at the foot of the bed before crawling on top of you. You instinctively wrapped your legs around him as he ground against you. The friction he was creating caused him to shudder as he dragged his lips down your neck. You wrapped your legs around him tighter, trying to lift yourself so you could press against him further. Large hands stopped you by holding your hips down, preventing you from getting any more stimulation than what he was already giving you. A moment later, one of them slid past your hips to hold your ass. You arched into him, and once again he didn’t let you. He was obviously getting the message, but he was choosing to ignore it to drag out your want, but you had waited far too long for this surrounded by all those dreary politicians.

Obi-Wan had to pull back to understand what you were saying as all your words were muffled by his kisses.

“Yes, my love?” he said in a voice that would’ve been sexier if he wasn’t wearing puppy eyes and pink cheeks at the same time.

“I don’t want to wait anymore.” you pouted.

“Well maybe—“

“No. I’ve decided I'm not going to,” he looked at you confused but intrigued, “It’s my turn to be master,”

“Oh?” he raised his brows. He was uncomfortable giving up control, but he could never deny you. “Are you sure? This will make you happy?” you nodded. He hesitated, taking a large gulp before lifting the hands that held you underneath him. The great Master Kenobi relinquished power to you with just a few words and a bat of your lashes. Knowing he wouldn’t do that for anyone else filled you with a sense of pride. What was a big deal to you was to him, only a glimpse of his love; the beginning of an infinite list of things he would happily give up for you.

When you felt the pressure of his body on top of you leave, you grabbed onto his shoulders and rolled both of you over so that you could straddle him. You were slightly nervous, and the one person you couldn’t hide that from was now underneath you. You giggled a little as his eyes widened. Suddenly, you became hyper-aware of what you were doing.

This physical position wasn’t new to you, but the mental position of the dominant one with Obi-Wan was foreign. He felt the uneasiness in your signature and not only comforted you by placing a hand on yours, but by radiating encouragement from his lam force. It was something he did often during training, and it reminded you that your safe place was wherever he was.

You put on a more confident face and Obi-Wan wanted to smile at how adorable you were but he knew you didn’t feel like being his “dear little one” right now. In a moment he didn’t even have to pretend as one roll of your hips made him gasp. With each movement, you gained more confidence and you felt him grow underneath too, which you didn’t even think was possible at this point. The harder he became the more pressure you felt on your clit. At a certain point, you weren’t concerned with being in control, you were distracted by the fluttering feeling you got from the friction. Your hands fell on his chest, running through the auburn hair there until you gripped his shoulders. With a groan, his hands snapped up to hold your thighs and his thumbs rubbed back and forth, the calluses leaving a bit of red every time they crossed your skin.

It was sweet to you how hands that were so rough tried to handle you so gently, far from the way he gripped a lightsaber in combat. Others saw an intimidating warrior, and you just saw Obi; a man who got excited over tea flavors and just so happened to be carrying a sword.

The calluses continued to graze your thighs as he worked his way up to hold your waist under your tunic. After holding them there to guide you as you continued to grind on top of him, he moved his hands up to cup your breasts, giving them a soft squeeze before pulling the edge of your tunic up until he couldn’t go any higher and you had to pull the piece of clothing off yourself. You leaned down to graze your teeth against the shell of his ear, leaving a gap between you that allowed him to unbutton his pants. He wriggled underneath you, trying to finish getting undressed without you having to get up. You took the opportunity to slide your hand beneath his boxers which got in his way but made him moan just like you wanted.

“You’re so always so impatient for me and yet you’re the only thing stopping me from being inside of you right now,”

You frowned, just beginning to tease, but reminding you that you could already be halfway to your high made you remove your hand and sit back on your heels. He just smiled and gave you a peck on your lips before removing and throwing his pants across the room, which took about half a second now that he was unhindered.

Apparently, he was under the impression that he was going to be on top again but you corrected him quickly by pushing his shoulders back and giving him passionate kisses up his chest until you reached his lips, enjoying the sensation of his beard.

Just like how he gave you no warning before plunging his fingers into you earlier, you wasted no time in slamming yourself down on his cock, causing him to throw his head back with a strangled moan that had him clapping his hand over his mouth to stifle it.

It was hot, sure, but it hurt a lot more. Past experiences should have taught you that you couldn’t take him without letting him take the time to adjust you first. Honestly, it was a little ridiculous to you, the fact that he was just so…big. When he saw you wince and cry out softly, he immediately sat up with concern.

“y/n,” He removed you from him gently and held your face, hugging you when he saw that your eyes were watering. You recovered quickly and began to giggle and he pulled back in confusion.

“I’m ok Obi, I just didn’t think that through as much as I should’ve. I wasn’t…ready for you,” you tried to put him at ease.

You knew he was processing your words until he raised his eyebrows in surprise with a small “Oh,” he chuckled a little after a moment, looking down and blushing slightly in embarrassment. “Do you want to stop?” he would stop immediately if you said yes, but you could tell that he was secretly hoping for a different response.

Not for the world.

He heard you in his head and his smirk said that he liked your answer very much.

Do you want me to help?

Saying yes would be to accept defeat and surrender your pretend title of master, but going back to being his “dear little one” didn’t sound so bad. Trying things was fun, but you preferred your dynamic.

Please?

Of course. Wouldn’t want to have to call a medic would we now?

I swear, your sass—

Did I say anything? I didn’t say anything!

You thought it and—

He cut off your playful little argument with a kiss and rolled you ever so carefully on your back, his hand cradling the back of your head. you stretched out your arms above you, trying to relax your body. He glided his hand along the smooth length of your arms, until he met your wrists, taking both of them in one hand. He lifted a leg over his hip and he pressed barely any of him inside you. He looked at you with concern until you let out a happy sigh, allowing him to let out the breath he was holding. You recognized the familiar pattern of him pushing in and pulling out, going deeper each time. It helped that you were absolutely soaked for him, to the point where each time he gave you more, it made you gush, coating the sheets. Inch by inch he stretched you out, using the force to communicate with you the whole time.

When he bottomed out and you felt him fill you all the way up in your stomach, he paused so both of you could relish the feeling. Afterward, you nodded at him to continue. He picked up his pace and you started to throb around him. You began to make what he would describe as “the prettiest noises he’d ever heard”, but it was only when you arched your back into him completely that assured him he didn't need to watch himself in case you got hurt. This confirmation led him to roll his hips in a certain way while he was still inside you, every ridge of his dick imprinting your walls. The hand not holding up your wrists pulled your knee over his shoulder, your leg going up in the air and toes curling as he continued.

You could tell he was trying to keep his moans quiet but it was getting hard so you kissed him as deep as you could so that he could release them fully, muffled against your lips. When they parted, he excitedly slipped his tongue in between them. The taste that came from your tongues twirling around each other was, to you, the sweetest in the world. Only when there was a need for air did you separate. A whine tried to escape you but it was successfully caught when you bit your lip.

“Darling, I want to look at you. My good girl just looks so pretty when she cums,” he told you when your eyes fluttered shut. Those words made you melt. It wasn’t without effort that you obeyed him, but it was worth it to see the blue in his eyes disappear behind his pupils. A few strands fell in front of them and you blew it out of his face seeing as how your hands were detained.

I love you.

I love you too.

He looked down at you in such a way that there was no doubt that he was all yours, and you hoped he noticed you looking at him the same.

He did, and it filled him with a joy that he had never felt possible until he fell in love with you.

“Master please!” you cried. If he wasn’t holding you down you would be thrashing, your body losing control of itself with each delicious thrust. Sparks crept up between your legs and you felt the shadow of an orgasm. When his teeth suddenly bumped against yours and each drag in and out of your cunt began to lose its rhythm, you knew he was close too.

Your lips smashed together and your forces wrapped around each other just before both of you peaked. The tips of your fingers and toes went numb, all blood rushing to your pussy. Both your brain and your pussy were flooded, the former with ecstasy and the latter with evidence of his. Your shared orgasm was so strong that your ears had a slight ring when you began to regain your senses. Both your muscles and your breathing grew heavy. You pushed his sweaty hair back before bringing your hand down to caress his cheeks, feeling more of his slight sweat on the edge of his beard. He leaned into your touch, pressing a kiss to your palm before rolling off of you.

Taking advantage of the now vacant space, you sprawled over the bed. The sound of liquid pouring and the padding of feet could be heard in the background.

“Up,” Obi-Wan said softly, a glass of water in his hand. Once you sat up, he lifted your chin with a knuckle and held it to your lips to drink. When you took it from him he parted your knees to have access between your legs for what was the third time today and probably not the last. Carefully pressing a damp cloth against your entrance, he cleaned up the mess he had made. He had filled you up to where it left excess of him to continue to leak out.

For you, aftercare was dedicated to admiring him and extending your feelings of gratitude through the force. He smiled softly at your messages while continuing. When he finished and disregarded the towel and set your cup down somewhere, he laid next to you, pulling the sheets up and over you.

With his remaining energy, he peppered your face with kisses until you hid your face in his chest. It was too early to go to sleep, so you just laid there in comfortable silence. You loved the feeling of his breath fanning against your forehead. He was actually trying to memorize your scent, wanting to remember what it was like to be close to you during his long missions away.

Right now though, he wasn’t on a mission. You were right here in the same bed as him, and he as going to hold on to this moment as long as he could.

[notthestarwar]

Cody and Boba spn au? 👀👀

Oh my god so I started writing this in November and then totally forgot about it till earlier this week when I saw a spn post 😂 I've just had to hunt down my notes which are spread between docs, the back of a cardboard box, a discord conversation, my friends memory (because I told her about it on a voice call apparently) and a notepad before I could figure out where the hell I was going with this one 😂😂

@thesunlikehoney i know you asked about this one too

OK so it all started with this

Which just felt so Jango to me???

So there are no monsters and Jango had raised his 4 kids to be bounty hunters. Alpha leaves when he's old enough, Rex dies, and eventually Cody gets out too leaving Boba and Jango (imagine boba as Dean here). Fast forward a few years and Cody is living a normal life, living with Alpha, and is very dedicated to his normal person job, all until Boba turns up in the middle of the night, dean style.

He explains that Jango has gone missing on a hunt and it turns out that he and Boba had started hunting force users since Cody left and Cody is like. you what??? thats a big no no. very dangerous. Cody agrees to go with him but only for the weekend, he has to be back on monday for his job interview. they investigate the case and find jango's journal but no jango. cody is like. right. i'm going home now.

but he arrives home to find the place burning with alpha (dead) inside and a calling card from ventress, the force user jango had been tracking. boba tells cody that now ventress is on his tail, he cant stay, or she'll burn down his work and everything else, so cody goes with him to stop ventress so he can return to his normal life.

things pretty much go as per spn s1, with jango leading them on and them following after him thinking they are going to find him anytime. theres lots of arguing between the two of them over jango and rex and their upbringing ect.

obi wan makes an apperance as boba and jango's ex jedi hunting consultant and helps them in the hunt for ventress. obi wan is also cody's ex, and they broke up because of jango who refused to tolerate him (but clearly changed his mind at some point after cody leaving) and then cody doesnt contact him after he leaves jango and boba because he wants to get out of the hunting life.

the whole thing is largely about jango being a shit dad but its also about the knockon effect that had on all of them. cycles of trauma. in some ways ending up like the parent that wronged you and having to confront that. rex is pretty much haunting the narrative as nobody has really dealt with his death and theres a lot of anger and grief and not wanting to speak about him. its also about running from your life after something bad happens that you dont want to face (cody with jango and boba, obi wan with the jedi) and how that act of running stops you from letting go of anything, and how there was an alternative, of cody staying in boba's life, of obi wan staying in contact with his family (the jedi), so in some ways its also about balance

tbh its very fun and i'm minorly obsessed with it again now i've revisited

Here's a very unedited snippet from the start:

[...]He’s more than able to defend himself without resorting to weapons.

It’s as he’s thinking this, that something heavy and solid barrels in to him from the direction of the kitchen.

Caught unaware, maybe he is getting rusty, he tumbles to the floor.

The intruder is armoured, beskar if Cody isn’t mistaken. Cody is naked but for boxers. It shouldn’t be a fair fight: Cody hasn’t always been a fair man.

He targets the joins in the mans armour, rolls them over, and its then, that a cloud shifts. A beam of moonlight falls on them and Cody realises, with a drop in his stomach, that he knows this armour.

“Boba?” he asks.

There is a snort from the vocoder. “So you do recognise me?”

“Of course I do! Boba. What the hell?”

“I could ask the same of you. Did you have to tackle me like that.”

Cody is taken aback for a second. “Did I have to…You attacked me! In my home! What is wrong with you?”

Boba sighs, the vocoder clicking off, his brothers true voice filtering though. “I was disarming you.” He says, like it’s obvious. “Didn’t want you to shoot first ask questions after.”

“I wouldn’t…” Cody shakes his head. “I’m not like that anymore.”

He’s still hovering over Boba, holding him to the floor. He comes back to himself, climbing to his feet and holding out a hand to pull Boba up.

“Boba. What the hell are you doing here?”

Boba shrugs, releasing his helmet with a hiss and hooking it to his belt.  He raises an eyebrow. “I could ask the same of you.” He looks around unimpressed.

“No. You could not.” Cody tells him blankly. “This is my home. I live here Boba. Not with you, I got out, remember?” He scoffs. “Haven’t seen you in ten years. So what the hell are you doing here now?”

Boba gives him a long look. “Looking for you.”

thank you for asking!

[antianakin]

Do you think it’s a common thing in the fandom (especially when writing fan-works featuring the Skywalker Father-Son Duo(TM)) to give Anakin a lot of Luke’s more noble and good attributes and act like he’s been like that the whole time, and give Luke some of Anakin’s worse attributes to make Anakin seem more centrist compared canon Luke and the “old Jedi” (quotes used ironically)?

Cause as a kid I loved Anakin for many of the reasons I now realize don’t apply to him at all, and moreso apply to Luke, and it’s really getting irritating to look up cool Luke fic and realize that this has been done to ma boi. What do you think?

I gotta be honest, I don't think I read enough fics with that dynamic in it to be able to say with any degree of certainty whether that's true or not.

What I will say is that I think fic writers who like Anakin tend to smooth him out a LOT and, yes, give him traits that are more applicable to other characters in order to make him likable. And in fairness, that's exactly what TCW did as well by effectively just giving him Obi-Wan's personality and erasing some of his less likable characteristics from the films.

Because Anakin is... a difficult character in many ways. The core of him is fear, so there's a tendency to want to sympathize with him, but what gets ignored is that Anakin is 1000% a fascist by AOTC, someone who can and will let himself be filled with enough anger to commit a massacre of an entire village down to the last child, and someone who is perfectly fine with pressuring a woman into a relationship with him. None of that is necessarily fun to write and it's hard to write Anakin as a sympathetic character if those things are kept in mind. So they just get... smoothed away. He's not REALLY a fascist, he's just confused or brainwashed and one good conversation with someone can completely fix that little problem. Anakin isn't pressuring Padme, he just could tell that she was into him and he TOTALLY would back off if Padme said no. The Tuskens deserved it anyway! So on and so forth.

Luke, by contrast, is a very easy character. There's a reason he gets labeled "sunshine boy" by the fandom and his struggles with anger get sort-of... forgotten and overlooked in favor of just seeing him as this easy, likable, charming farmboy. He's sweet and honorable and passionate. He IS a lot like Anakin in many ways, and that's deliberate. Fandom has taken a turn recently towards wanting Leia to be like Anakin and Luke to be like Padme, and there's reasons to make that comparison, but Luke's similarities to Anakin are very deliberately there in the narrative for a reason. Luke has to struggle with anger and fear and be filled with righteous passion because that's exactly what Anakin struggled with and Luke's ability to overcome that in a way Anakin never could is what makes the entire story interesting and meaningful.

Luke also is one of those characters who tends to get handed the "grey Jedi" label which tends to lead to Luke choosing to look down on the Prequels Jedi and decreeing that attachments are totally fine actually and HIS Jedi aren't going to be repressed anymore blah blah blah. And this does come from fans who have fallen into the fandom osmosis hole of "the Prequels are about the Jedi's failure" and have twisted the entire Skywalker Saga around that theory, including Luke's journey. And part of that theory tends to be a lot more sympathetic towards Anakin, as well. If only the Jedi had been more understanding and less oppressive, Anakin wouldn't have fallen. So it's not shocking that fans who are writing from that perspective are going to make Anakin seem softer and more sympathetic.

So yeah, sure, it's entirely possible that some fic writers are choosing to give Anakin more of Luke's nobler characteristics in order to help smooth him out and make him easier to like, while giving Luke some of Anakin's more arrogant or dismissive traits in order to make those traits seem more "centrist." I don't think it's something that ONLY happens with Luke and Anakin, though. Like I said, TCW gave Anakin most of Obi-Wan's traits and then tossed a few of Anakin's onto Obi-Wan, as well. I think you could make an argument that we're seeing some of that happen with Ahsoka, too.

I wish I could offer you some Luke fic recs, so instead I will simply say I hope you find some good ones that feel like they're more in character!

[yukipri]

hi i hate to be a bother but i love your fic but i cant get more than a dozen or so chapters in bc i keep getting horrible anxiety about how the "present" time is ready to explode and i cant read longfic if it ends badly, could you say if the "present" time has a good resolution? no pressure at all, if you dont want to do that ill just wait for the return to the "present" and get the spoilers from my friends reading it

Thanks for liking my fic! Even if you're only able to get through part of it ^ ^;

So, hmm. I'm going to do my best to answer your question. I hope you understand that I don't feel comfortable (or frankly, capable) of telling you how the fic ends, as we are very very far away from that still (plus, I'm writing the fic for a reason!).

I can say that I personally do not consider the present "ready to explode" in any way. It is, in my opinion, the calmest time that the clones have ever experienced in the short, 13 years of their existence. Sure there's a lot going on, but for the very first time, they are in control of their own fate, and mostly have the upper hand. Is Sidious still out there? Yes. But Sidious is just as confused as, well, Obi-Wan right now, and he is actively on the run, which is more than can be said of any point we've seen of him in canon. Are there other threats too? Of course, but again, for once the clones are able to choose how to act without hiding. If anything, it's post-explosion, the explosion being the Override.

Why do the clones feel so in control? Well, that has to do a lot with the actual mechanics and process of the Override, which we are piecing together in the past.

It's true that Obi-Wan is a bit alarmed and very confused because he doesn't know what's going on. But he'll be alright, because the clones are, again, very calm and in control, and he'll take his cues from them. One of his purposes in the present is to be the audience lens through which new developments are revealed, but most of these things are not new or alarming to the clones, and they are the ones this all primarily affects. Will the clones tell Obi-Wan everything immediately? Of course not. But again, one of the purposes of writing this story non-chronologically and going into the past is so that you, the reader, can understand what's going on, and when the clones choose to share something with Obi-Wan, know the full context of that. Either way, Obi-Wan is a side character and not the primary focus in this story!

While there will be developments and action in the present eventually, right now it's far more a time of reflection, at least for the clones. There is going to be a lot of coming to terms with the past, personal reflection on identity, culture, freedom, the Republic, and the future of their new home. There is going to be more exploration of their life, and lots of politics and what it means to run a people that is no longer under subjugation. There is going to be following up on stuff from the war. There is going to be a significant amount of angst. However, nothing will "explode" for a very, very long time—we don't yet have enough context for that.

In comparison, I consider much of the "past" to be lighter, because sure it covers the war which is dark, but it's also familiar to us via canon media, except there's now the undercurrent of knowledge of all these networks and safety measures that exist, as well as new tools that Jango is actively working on. So it's bad, but we know it's not as bad. There's also just a lot more humor, since everybody (especially Jango) is still figuring things out! In the present, we kinda see the polished version after they become pros ^ ^;

We should be returning to the present in a few chapters (no clue how long those chapters will take), but a fair warning that it will be written with the assumption that you have read all previous chapters. Skipping all of the past will probably mean that a lot of it won't make sense, and I'm sorry, but I won't apologize for that, nor will I explain it when it's explained in the fic! The past bits do exist for a reason! And not just the events, but the thought processes that the characters had in the past will affect their present.

Likewise, we won't just stay in the present once we're back; after a while, we'll return to the past again, and probably eventually jump back to the present, etc. That's just how this story works.

Again, I'd rather not comment too much on the actual ending but, I do not consider this story a tragedy. It's not as simple as a fix-it either, and there's plenty of angst along the way, but I don't think you need to worry about it being a horrible conclusion.

I hope this answers your question! And I hope I didn't spoil myself too badly. Everything above that is not yet written is subject to change, because I do not want to limit my writing to what I said in an ask response, but I think this is a decent idea of what to expect.

I'm not here to tell you how (or even if!) to read my story, but yeah, the past is essential, because the present would not exist without it.

❀ ❀ Send YukiPri an Ask! ❀ ❀

[dameronology]

angel eyes (obi-wan)

summary: after order 66, obi-wan kenobi tried his very best to move on from you. it would be a shame if you were to ruin that. (obviously based on the abba song) - 2.8k words

warnings: language, kind of emotional infedelity?? and also angst. no kenobi spoilers tho.

it's 4.11am and i have been writing this for six hours. and truth be told i think i could do more with it but even more truther be tolder i am too sleep deprived to argue with myself. enjoy.

-jazz

Your relationship with Obi-Wan Kenobi had died with the Jedi Order.

The end of your relationship had been beautifully in sync with the start of your relationship, in the sense that it had been out of necessity and a little for your own soundness of mind. It was clear from the start that Kenobi was essential in your life if you wanted to stay sane. He was grounded and smart, which was a beautiful contrast to your haywire, rebellious ways. So you became friends. And then you found that being friends wasn't really an option, because you loved him and couldn't really live without him. You hadn't expected to find the love of your life in the very place that forbade such a thing, but you would come to learn that the universe wasn't really fair. Still though, it hadn't felt completely and entirely cruel when Obi-Wan affirmed that he felt the same way about you. Thus, triggering the beginning of the most intensely passionate and beautiful five years of your life.

Obi-Wan wasn't a man who did things by halves. In fact, he did them tenfold or he didn't do them at all. That meant that he absolutely carried you through the worst of times and the best of times. He made you feel things you hadn't thought possible: like heaven was right there in the Jedi Temple. Sneaking around and lying to the Council got a little difficult at times, but all it took was one look at him and you knew in your soul that it was worth it. All those whispered conversations of leaving the Order together and having a future, a real future, were the only thing that got you through the war. They'd been nothing but a fantasy at the time.

You still remembered how it felt to see him after Order 66. The comms systems had fallen completely and you had no clue if he was alive. It was too hard to concentrate and reach out over the Force. Those hours had been gruelling.

You'd seen Obi-Wan for the first time aboard Bail Organa's ship. You'd never seen him move so quickly; he took you up in his arms, pulled you into chest and just held you for a moment. Neither of you said anything. Neither of you had to. Amongst the grief and loss, you felt a sense of relief. It was hard to say you'd lost everything when you still had him.

At least you thought. Because by that point, it was beyond dangerous for two Jedi to stay together. There was a galaxy wide manhunt for every remaining knight but especially Obi-Wan. His leading part in this entire thing basically put a target on his back and that was enough danger for one person, let alone two. The Empire would have struck gold if they found you together.

Your only option - and the only way to survive - was to go your separate ways. It hurt. It hurt a lot. Mostly because a small part of you had hoped that those silly fantasies about a future together might finally pay off now that the Order was gone. But, like I said: the universe was cruel. Far crueller than you ever expected it to be.

The only thing that kept you going after your separation was his promise to you.

"I'll never love anyone the way I love you."

Obi-Wan was to go to Tatooine and you were to go Alderaan. Your names would be wiped from the records; you'd be given new identities, new stories, new everything. You owed Bail Organa your life for offering to help you out.

Saying goodbye hurt you in a way you couldn't quite explain. The first few weeks without him were even worst: you could no longer reach out to him when your nightmares sank in during the late hours. There were no blue eyes to open up to; no-one to say sweetheart, don't be stupid every time you were about to make an irrational decision. It was like you were two parts of a whole and now Obi-Wan was gone, the logical part of your mind had gone completely.

Maybe that was why you fell into bounty hunting. The danger and adrenaline wasn't that far off from your days as a Jedi. It paid well and no-one hunting the Jedi would ever think to look in the dingy bars and cantinas of downtown Alderaan. It worked in a way you hadn't expected. Not enough to make you feel as whole as you had at the Temple with Obi-Wan, but just enough so that you could feel yourself moving on.

Obi-Wan's words rung through your brain every night for the next five years. I'll never love anyone the way I love you.

Time passed and you had flings here and there; a few dates that a mutual friend set you up, a brief dalliance with a fellow bounty hunter, yada, yada, yada. None it counted for anything. It was all a desperate attempt to find a connection again. There came a point where it felt like your ability to love another person lived and died with Obi-Wan Kenobi.

Five years after the fall of the Galactic Republic, you took a job in Tatooine. There was a complete disconnect in your mind between the desert planet and Obi-Wan living there. Hell, you didn't know if he was still there. You didn't even know if he was still alive. It had been a good two years since you’d had any updates from him. The Organas had made a point of updating you at first, but that had faded along with your contact with them. Reminders of your former life weren’t what you needed anymore. 

Tatooine was dry. It was dusty and it was sandy and it was fucking dry. There was no guarantee that the quarry you were after was even there. Mos Eisley wasn’t exactly a small spaceport; it was packed with different shops and stalls and clustered with people. That made it the least ideal place to try and hunt someone down. 

You elbowed your way through the crowds in the main square, eyes peeled for the quarry. Your hood was up around your head - half to protect you from the sun, but also half to hide your face. There had been whispers over the last few weeks of an Empire presence here. Even though Jabba the Hutt apparently ruled the place, it wasn’t completely unheard of for the Imps to be sniffing around everywhere. 

Hooking a right, you turned the corner from the main square and into one of the smaller streets. You almost instantly collided with a girl; you let out an oof! as you fell on your ass, a cloud of dust evaporating around your form as you hit the ground. She took a step back and held out her hand. 

“I am so sorry!” she exclaimed.

“No, it’s my fault-”

“- oh, darling. Are you running into people again?”

You froze. You actually fucking froze. That was a voice you would have recognised anywhere - even more so because he’d said that phrase to you a thousand times before. It was always oh darling, are you running into people again? or how did you not see the wall, my love? or just…something about how fucking clumsy you were. Obi-Wan had found it endearing.

You heard his voice and then his face came into view. He didn’t look that different - his hair was a little longer and his beard more jagged, but his blue eyes caught yours and immediately you knew it was Obi-Wan Kenobi. Undeniable and in the flesh. Calling another person sweetheart. He took a step towards her and put an arm on her waist, hand resting on her hip. That was how he used to hold you. Fucking ouch. 

He hadn’t noticed you. Not yet. 

“Oh hush, Ben,” she smiled, and then looked back at you. “I am genuinely sorry. You’re not hurt, are you?”

Not physically. Haha. 

“No, not at all,” you cleared your throat. 

Obi-Wan glanced from the girl and towards you - then you shared the same look. It was like seeing a ghost from his past. Actually, you were a ghost from his past. He’d tried so hard for so long to shove you to the back of his mind and move on. It was only in the last few years that he’d succeeded. He should have known that you were going to turn up out of nowhere and blow everything apart. You’d done it once before. Why not again? 

He didn’t know what to say. That was ironic, because he’d spent hours laying awake at night thinking about the speech he would give you if you ever turned up again. It was gone now. And so it seemed had his ability to speak. 

Neither of you knew how to play it. Did you pretend you were strangers, for the sake of the girl in front of you? The girl, who in your opinion, looked at him a little too much like you used to. With some kind of admiration and hope. Like Obi-Wan Kenobi hung the stars in the sky and wrote out the constellations just for you. To her, it seemed he was Ben. You didn’t who the fuck Ben was. Moreso, you didn’t know who the fuck this girl was. 

“Ben, is it?” you asked. Okay, you were going with playing dumb. “Are you guys locals?”

“I am!” the girl piped up. “Born and raised, sadly. Ben here moved to the port a few years ago. I don’t think I’ve seen you around here before.”

“I’m…here on business,” you trailed off. “I’m just looking for a hotel, actually. It’s getting dark and I don’t fancy staying on my ship all night. If you guys could just give me directions, I’ll be on my way and-”

You didn’t want to be on your way. You had a thousand questions to ask; some about Kenobi, some about the relationship he seemingly had with this girl. Neither of those things were your business. Your relationship with him had ended half a decade ago. It was just that promise of I’ll never love anyone like I love you that rang through your head. It would have been easier to believe he didn’t look at her the same fucking way he once looked at you. 

“The hotels here are extortionate,” she said. “Ben has a spare room. He’s always letting travellers crash there. I’m sure he won’t mind if you stay the night.”

Spoiler alert: he did mind. And you minded too. You minded even more than his name was seemingly Ben now. You knew it mostly for safety, so that the Imps couldn’t find him, but he was always Obi-Wan in your mind. Nothing would ever change that. 

“It’s okay,” you insisted. “I really don’t mind paying. Besides, I’m just a stranger and-”

“- nonsense!” she cut you off. “You don’t seem like an axe murderer.”

To Obi-Wan, you were arguably much worse than an axe murderer. 

“Uh,” he stuttered. He couldn’t say no - the girl clearly had him wrapped around her finger. “I don’t see why not.”

You gave him a look that said think, Kenobi. Think of a single fucking reason. 

Still, he had nothing.

“Great,” you murmured.

The girl leant down and picked up the bags that you’d dropped earlier. She was nice. Too nice. Not only did that make it harder to dislike her, but it made you think that things between them must have been boring. Your entire relationship with Obi-Wan had been built on the fact that you were chaotic as fuck and he was the calm one. You’d ruined his life in the best way. 

—

You spent the rest of the afternoon traipsing after the couple through the Mos Eisley markets. They were together - you could decipher that much. The girl seemed grabbier than him but you couldn’t decipher if it was always that way, or if Obi-Wan was just playing it down because you were there. 

It killed both of you not being able to talk about the things you needed, or to say the things you needed to. There was so much unspoken tension in the air and it was a surprise that his lover hadn’t picked up on it. She seemed completely clueless, from the minute she invited you to stay in his spare room, to the minute she kissed him goodbye and retired back to her own house for the night.

That left you and Kenobi in his converted cave, sat in silence until the door slammed shut and you both jumped into action. Naturally, you were the first to speak. 

“What the fuck is going on?” 

“I could ask you the same,” Obi-Wan shot back. “What are you doing here?”

“I wasn’t lying earlier when I said I was on business,” you said. “I followed a bounty here. I didn’t expect to run into you. To be honest, I wasn’t even sure if you were alive.”

“I am - just about,” he murmured. “I could say the same for you.”

“I wouldn’t call this just about,” you replied, glancing around. “Obi-Wan, who is Ben?”

“Ben is the name I took upon arriving here,” he explained. “Obi-Wan Kenobi is no more. He’s dead. He had to die.”

“He’s not dead,” you shook your head. “I’m looking right at him, aren’t I?”

“Not quite.”

“Oh, don’t give me that,” you scoffed. “I recognised you straight away. I can see it in your eyes - the way you look around when you think you see danger, that inquisitive glance towards the crowds, the way you hold yourself. You can change your name all you want but nothing will change the fact that you are Obi-Wan Kenobi.”

“You haven’t changed one bit.”

“You have, though,” you muttered. “With your new house, and job, and girlfriend-”

“- don’t be like that,” Obi-Wan cut you off. “I had to make a life for myself here. I didn’t know what I’d see you again-”

“- I’m not being like anything,” you rolled your eyes. “I just…do you remember that last promise you made to me before we broke up?”

He nodded. “Clear as day. I promised you that I would never love someone as much as I love you - and I’ve kept that promise.”

“I don’t think you have,” you shook your head. “I’ve seen the way you look at her. You love her. I’m not fucking blind.”

Obi-Wan stood up and crossed the room to where you were standing. It felt weird to be near you again. He wanted nothing more than to reach out and hug you; it’s what he’d been craving for yours. Not just someone’s touch, but your touch. You’d been a pillar in his life and now that you were gone, he’d felt everything crumbling down to the very core. 

“Maybe some part of me was just hoping that you’d wait for me,” you murmured. “I know it’s ridiculous. I just think that you might be the very best thing that ever happened to me and even when you’re gone, I’m still foolish enough to cling onto hope.”

“It was circumstantial,” he began. “She lives three doors down. We met and we got on and it made sense for us to start dating. You can see that my life here is a little lacklustre. I thought it might bring excitement.”

“Did it?”

Obi shook his head. “Not in the slightest. She’s nice but she doesn’t get me the way you did. I don’t think anyone ever will - so I might look at her with affection but I can assure you that I will never love anyone the way I love you.”

Love. In the present tense. Not the past. The Jedi were in the past. The Republic was in the past. Everything was in the past. But seemingly, not his love for you, nor your love for him. It might have been dormant for a while but it was bright as day now you were together. 

“I’ve spent the last five years chasing a feeling that I can only get with you,” he continued. “Whatever mixture of stress, excitement and terror that may be.”

“Me too,” you said. “Moving on is hard.”

“It is insufferable,” Obi-Wan replied. He took your hands, thumbs ghosting over the back of your palm. “But you have to understand, my love, that moving on is sometimes not a choice so much it is a necessity.”

“I know,” you murmured. “It’s still not safe for us to be together, is it?”

“It’s not,” he confirmed. “And even if it was, what we had is no more. I will undoubtedly take your love with me into the future but our relationship belongs in the past.”

“Right,” you nodded. “Right person, wrong time, I guess.”

“No, not at all - you’re the right person. All the time.”

tags: @hellotherekenobi @frampuccino @currentlysobbingtofortiesmusic

[kbirbpods]

and, we're live!

Time for my 2023 stats round up.

First, let's look at the number of hours/minutes per month, shall we?

All of that account for 59 hours & 11 minutes of podfic. Now, comparing to last year, when I had just shy of 31 hours, that looks pretty good. Remember, last year I started in August so I almost doubled it.

We do notice a dip in March & April, which tend to be busy months in the education world. The spike in May is due to Voiceteam. June-August are a bit odd - you'd think a teacher on break would have more time to create. But I had some life stuff hit and it really destroyed my brain.

So, here's my first 2024 Resolution:

Remember how happy podfic makes you & don't let your depression win.

Now, moving on to the breakdowns and fun stuff, shall we?

Here are my top 5 fandoms, authors, ratings, and genres! I also have them in bar chart form and pie chart form, which I'll put below the cut. You'll see a slight difference in the author category -- I didn't include myself or Flowerparrish and my podcast in that as those weren't authors.

Of course, what is podficcing without making covers you love? Here are my favorite covers I made for my own podfics! I have a migraine so please excuse the fact that the images don't line up, vision is blurry:

Now, let's move on to my stats image from above. I used the same format as last year but since I made over 100 more podfic than last year, each microphone now equals five podfics.

As you can see, I participated in a lot of events! I believe I made the most audio for Voiceteam 2022 (as evidenced by my hours/month graph). This was my first year doing Voiceteam and I had a blast. I also got to do Podtogether & Summer Swap for the first time. It was my 2nd year doing ITPE. And then so much more.

My top kudosed collaborative project was "A Fair Compromise" with @wanderingjedihistorian for 212th Appreciation week. My top kudosed solo project was "A Game of Guess Who With Big Blue" by TheWitchBoy. The longest podfic I made was also with @wanderingjedihistorian and was my podfic of our Codywan Big Bang project! My shortest was a Locked Tomb podfic at 57 seconds called Realization.

My first podfic of 2023 was Hot Cocoa by Melime, a "The Batman" podfic. In the middle was Dissipate by SunsetsOverLA for Waxer*Boil month. And the last posted thing was for @fandomtrumpshate, for my top bidder - an Obi-Wan/Jango soulmates AU.

Now, on to 2024! My resolutions are:

To continue working on current WIPs I'm bringing into 2024 - some of which I've already tied up only 5 days into the year

To podfic even when my brain is being a gremlin, because podfic makes me happy and I should be able to focus on that!

To be brave enough to post the first "Soft Wars" podfic and finally tackle the series (kind of the same as resolution #1)

Not to sign up for Big Bangs -- I love them dearly but they actually caused a lot of my burnout this year and I didn't love that. As much as I love collabs, I think I'll stick to Podtogether, multivoices with friends, and gift exchanges this year!

Close the gaps -- aka, as much as I love Clone Wars, I want to focus on all things I love, instead of overbearingly focusing in on one.

Going into 2024, I am going to start tracking what music I use in my podfics, because I was curious about it / @flowerparrish inspired me. I also found a way to track overall Star Wars and then Star Wars broken down into sub fandoms - that should neaten up my "top 5" category a bit.

Happy New Year, all!

And, as mentioned above, screenshots of my actual graphs & tables, for interest sake!

[reconstructwriter]

Finally Broken Down and Watched the Prequels

I honestly don't remember if I've seen them all before or just clips. But after a few years of being a Star Wars fan on a steady diet of fandom, I broke down and pulled out the Phantom Menace to cap off my birthday. I’m spoiled to hell and back and a couple decades older than the intended audience but what the hell. So here’s my two cents (or more) arrogant opinion on The Phantom Menace:

Heads up, long post.

Shmi surprised me the most of any character. After reading fanfics about Jedi or Qui Gon pressuring/coercing her…she’s the one who asks them to take Anakin? For education she can’t give him? Okay, fair. And I’m 100% onboard with Shmi as Force Sensitive and/or taught Jedi beliefs cause her lines are peak Jedi. Anakin not only betrayed Jedi teachings but ALSO HIS MOM’S when he went Darth Vader. Congrats, you become not only Galaxy’s Worst Father but also Galaxy’s Worst Son.

Shmi is also clearly enslaved by the plot. Not even Anakin selling the winning pod racer was enough money to free her…but somehow Cleigg Lars has the cash? Is he supposed to be running a plantation here?

Jar Jar was annoying but given how low my expectations of him were set? Eh, the worst thing about him was the blatant racist portrayal (and he’s not alone) in a film whose MAIN THEME is equality. Bad enough to have a bigoted cliche show up but George Lucas are you deliberately shooting your movie’s message in the foot?

This is especially bad when another blatant racist portrayal is Watto and the Jedi are Space Jewish Buddhists! Enough idiots buy the Sith propaganda that Jedi steal children or whatever that attitude does NOT NEED REINFORCEMENT!

Especially not IRL.

Qui Gon harping on Anakin needing to be trained but NOT being the one to train Anakin was also a bit unexpected, given his fanon portrayals. I mean on the one hand I’m glad you’re not screwing your Padawan over completely but on the other hand you found and freed Anakin and now you want to pawn him off? Which he did, in the end.

Poor Obi Wan though, like I get this isn’t an easy solution and Qui Gon is backed in a corner but man you'd think a diplomat would be a little better! But kudos for Kenobi he looked past his hurt and rallied to support his Master for a nine year old’s sake.

Tales of the Jedi seems to imply the Council sent Qui Gon to Darth Maul like a lamb to the slaughter but that was not what I got. No one, not even Qui Gon or Obi Wan, seemed to think they couldn’t handle him. Not entirely certain they didn’t write off his appearance as a 100 on the random encounters table but anyway…

I’ve seen the clip of Anakin standing before the Council and unlike a lot of scenes it feels more open to interpretation – is Anakin cold cause of the Dark Side growing from his fear or cause he’s used to Tattooine? Does he fear for his enslaved mom or for his own pain from losing her? Is Anakin behaving himself better because he’s intimidated or because he has his serious pants on like everyone else? Does he think the Jedi will kick him out on the street or does he know he’ll still be taken care of?

Also the movie ends with Mace and Yoda - The Two Top Ranking Jedi - discussing the Sith Master, so the Jedi are clearly jumping onto that investigation.

[sailorsol]

We need to talk about the Rako Hardeen arc. Namely, how circumstances lined up so it really couldn't have been anyone other than Obi-Wan going undercover.

The Council is told there is a plot to assassinate the Chancellor. This plot involves Eval Moralo gathering up a bunch of the Best of the Best bounty hunters to determine who the Actual Best is, and have them be the one to kill the chancellor. Was this his own idea? Who knows.

The Council feels that the best way to stop this is to infiltrate the group of bounty hunters. They can't just make up a new bounty hunter--they wouldn't have enough of a reputation for Eval to trust them. But they also needed a bounty hunter that didn't have a lot of close contacts, who would know if something was Off about how he was acting. Which is how they end up settling on Rako Hardeen.

As it stands, Rako Hardeen has not done anything impressive enough to even be considered for this bounty hunter party, so they need to contrive a situation that puts him on people's radars. They also don't know where Eval's little get together is happening, but they do know he's currently in jail and planning a jail break. So they want something big enough that their chosen bounty hunter will end up in prison alongside Eval and can help him escape to garner some trust.

So you have a bounty hunter from Concord Dawn who doesn't have many close contacts, has a reputation for being a sharpshooter, and can easily be put into position and then replaced. Who are you going to have play this guy? Well, you need someone who knows about the culture of Concord Dawn--and its complicated relationship with Mandalore. Someone who perhaps speaks some of the language. And someone who is a decent enough marksman. Also, it's convenient that if the person who is to play him has a part in giving him the necessary street cred.

So of course, Obi-Wan ends up being chosen for this part. He knows about Mandalorian culture and history, and probably a fair amount about Concord Dawn as well. He possibly speaks some of the language (never confirmed). He's a good marskman. And he is a High General, a Council member, visible enough that if Rako Hardeen were to actually kill him, it would make a huge splash.

I don't think Palpatine told the Jedi who to use. At most, he may have found a way to plant the idea of Rako Hardeen being their fall man, knowing it would probably lead to Obi-Wan ending up in the position.

As for Anakin not being told--operational security is a serious issue, one that has blown up in their faces before. Is it worth risking the life of the chancellor--of Anakin's friend and mentor--just to reassure Anakin in the short term? It's not like Anakin wouldn't have learned the truth after the assassination attempt was foiled. And anyway, we see him being angry in the moment, but that's also probably partly because he could have unintentionally hurt Obi-Wan. We don't see any lingering anger or trust issues because of this (though it's also a kids' show that doesn't always follow through).

So yeah. Once Rako Hardeen was chosen, it was inevitable that Obi-Wan would be the one who was "killed" to go undercover into the role. It couldn't have been anyone else, at that point.

[tennessoui]

I had missed the brown and white robes thing, oh em gee, Anakin, WHAT. Semi-related: in canon I am always like "But what was Padme's endgame re: her MARRIAGE etc with Anakin-the-Jedi?" so I reaaaaaaally hope the counseling fic gets into that :D

Oh I’ve been trying to set that up as something the fic will touch on—probably not through the counselor but from anakins pov outside of the sessions as he interacts with Padmé and Obi-Wan and as Padmé tries to save her marriage (which won’t work)

I can’t speak to canon Padmé much, but couples counseling Padmé is definitely thinking anakin will leave the order to be with her—she’s most content thinking of their future, a future where Anakin is in their bed when she falls asleep and when she wakes up. Maybe they’re on Naboo, maybe they’re still on Coruscant, but she’s thinking about Naboo at least as an option….

Which is totally fair! I mean they’re married! When there was a war, of course Anakin couldn’t leave—he had to fight! The galaxy needed him, and Padmé understands his need to serve. It’s similar to her own drive to serve in the Senate.

And in AOTC, it’s not like Anakin is showing his commitment to the Jedi Order or how much he loves being a Jedi…. I can see Padmé loosely thinking that Anakin would be amenable to leaving if she asked

I do think they love in a similar way—in this last chapter of couples counseling au, Anakin knows he can distract Padmé from her job if he tries hard enough because both of them put their marriage above their duties a lot of the time. I think Padmé believes Anakin would leave the Jedi for her based on the same reasoning

But what I dont think they really understand yet is that there’s no way couples counseling Anakin would leave obi-wan, which means he is a Jedi and he will always be a Jedi. His version of the future involves living with Obi-Wan, picking up his dirty mugs and seeing his shoes by the door. Padmé’s version of their future….does not include that.

That’s definitely going to be a conflict before all’s said and done

[azurecanary]

I feel like my main complaint with Star Wars fans is the misunderstanding of Ahsoka Tano's character

(My qualifications: Watched TCW S1-7 + the movie, read her novel, watched Rebels S2&4, watched Mando 2x5 and BoBF 1x6)

She is not anti Jedi because she walked away from the Order. Her best friend framed her in mass murder and terrorism (in an arc i despise for a multitude of reasons) and her leaving the Order was what she needed to do to heal. (Leaving the religion due to trauma from others is something i can relate to a lot)

She is not a Mary Sue for her actions in Siege of Mandalore. She was a teenager suffering from PTSD due to being a child soldier and what occurred in the Wrong Jedi arc and decided to take it out on Maul (and Obi-Wan) after Bo Katan offered her the opportunity.

"I am no Jedi" was not about her rejecting the Jedi Order or the Code. It was her facing the fact that her older brother actively participated in the genocide of her entire culture including and as well as the people she loved (e.g. Padme, Barriss, Obi-Wan (as far as she knows), PLO KOON, etc) and Vader represented everything about that.

Her comments about attachment in Mando and BoBF were not ooc. Ahsoka has always been wary of attachment, especially after Order 66. Or have people just not read the book?

And of fucking course she didn't fucking torture a Nightsister to get information. Even the fact that that comes to mind before "occasionally snarky Jedi says very snarky things" just goes to show that people would rather shit on a Filoni project (which is fair enough) then consider that they have the wrong interpretation of her character.

Ahsoka being anti Jedi is a fabrication created by Jedi haters who want to emulate the "all the perks of the Jedi without the dedication and culture" part of her. And everyone else has just went with it.