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questforgalas · 1 year

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March on the Temple pt 2.

Summary: While reflecting on memories of the 501st, Echo receives some disturbing news

Word Count: 4.6K

On AO3

Notes: WOOOO BABY DID THIS ONE GET AWAY FROM ME. This made me cry while writing it multiple times, so strap in for a lot of fond brotherly feels as well as post order 66 angst. Echo needs 8000 hugs, and Hunter is a good brother. Italics indicate flashbacks, all from Echo's POV. This chapter is all Echo's POV. I'm wicked proud of this one and feeling more comfortable in my writing, so I hope you all enjoy too!

Warnings: we be angsty babes. angst with a happy ending, post order 66, fond memories of the 501st, Rex is dogpiled by younglings, Ahsoka, Kix, Fives, Jesse, Hardcase, Appo, and Denal all make appearances, Hunter is there for his big brother

Pt 1 | Pt 2 | Pt 3

Tay's Masterlist

Read on AO3

“Echo, what does the reg manual say about loth wolves?”

Letting loose his sixth exasperated sigh since this conversation started, Echo closed his eyes with the false hope that he could block out Fives’ increasingly worrying questions.

“No animals of any kind are allowed in the barracks, Fives. Not tookas. Not loth wolves. Not eeopie. And definitely not rancor, before you even ask.”

“But hear me out,” Hardcase starts. “What if we get the general to ‘sign off’ on them? You know he barely looks at the reports before he signs them, always racing off once we land on Coruscant. No way he’d notice a petition for permission to bring a tooka on board.”

“Rex would love a tooka. He just doesn’t know it yet,” Jesse added.

The thing about the 501st, especially Hardcase, Fives, and Jesse, is that their boredom-induced plans were usually harmless. Echo could say that with 87% certainty. But that other 13% … well, the idea of bringing on a “mascot of the 501st” was being discussed longer than Echo was comfortable with.

“Fives, we’ve only been in hyperspace for a rotation. It’s too soon for you to give Rex a headache.”

“Oh come on Echo. You can’t tell me you wouldn’t ….”

The other thing about the 501st is that no matter how many times they made Echo groan, they made him smile twice as often.

Staring into the bright jungle of Saleucami, Echo found his mind wandering to his brothers and thinking of the trouble they would get into here. Hardcase alone would run Kix out of bandages no doubt thanks to the brightly colored fauna. Echo loosed a sigh and leaned his head back against the side of Su and Cut’s house. Since they fled Kamino, he’s caught himself thinking of his old squad more often than usual.Maybe it was the memories of familiarity while now in a galaxy of uncertainty that brought him comfort. Or maybe because any memories of his newest squad involved one missing member, and the betrayal Echo felt ran deeper than he wanted to acknowledge at the moment.

Fighting hard to not let his mind conjure up images of clones shooting at a Jedi padawan or, worse, a black chamber with the sounds of machines beeping out of sight, Echo reached for memories painted blue.

“Do you think they’ll let us eat in their mess hall? I heard the temple food is some of the best on Coruscant,” Kix hadn’t stopped rambling since they got the orders to meet Commander Tano at the Jedi Temple. Echo didn’t blame him. It wasn’t often non-command clones were summoned to the temple, and even though Fives and Echo walked the halls a few times before, this was Kix’s first visit. So, his energy was nothing but amusing to the other two.

“Is it even called a mess hall here? That doesn’t sound very Jedi. It’s probably called something like ‘The Nourishing Hall’ or ‘Meals of Enlightenment’,” Fives joked. “Yeah, that sounds right. ‘The Nourishing Hall – double your midi-chlorians with every meal’,” he emphasized the title with a streak of his hand through the air like he was displaying a holoboard.

“Sorry Fives, no midi-chlorian doubling meals here. And hate to break it to ya, but it’s just the cafeteria.” Commander Tano’s voice sounding next to them made all three troopers jump at the same time. They looked to their left to find the young Togruta chuckling to herself, clearly amused with her stealthy stunt. Echo whipped his head around wondering where in the Maker she came from. “Jedi stealth must be a nice trick to have,” he muttered to himself.

Once they made it to the top of the stairs, the three troopers stopped to face Ahsoka, awaiting an explanation as to why they were here, but first, she waved over a blue skinned Twi’lek waiting by the entrance. The Jedi, or Echo assumed they were a Jedi, had kind eyes and an even kinder smile – not uncommon amongst the force wielders.

“Echo and Fives, you’ll follow me as I bring you to the briefing room. But first, Kix, I’d like you to meet Jedi Master Vokara Che. She’s the head healer here at the temple,” Ahsoka explained.

Echo looked over and used every moment of his ARC training to refrain from bursting out laughing once he saw the look on Kix’s face. The 501st medic stood there with eyes wide and mouth agape, processing the presence coming toward them. Echo wasn’t familiar with the Jedi Master, but based on Kix’s reaction, he certainly was.

“Hello medic Kix. I’ve heard about the remarkable work you do on the field for your battalion, and, if you’ll allow, I’d like for you to spend time in the healing halls here over the next few rotations. I think we can learn a great deal from each other,” Jedi Master Che spoke with a sing-song voice.

Hands clasped together, the Jedi healer stood patiently as she waited to hear Kix’s response, which, to everyone’s amusement, never came as he was stuck with the same wide eyes and open mouth that formed when the healer joined them. Master Che’s smile quirked up at the corners in amusement. Not able to let their brother make a fool of himself any longer, Fives softly punched Kix’s shoulder to jolt him out of his stupor.

“Don’t mind him, ma’am. We’re still adjusting back to Coruscant time from our most recent mission, but I can speak for Kix when I say he’d be honored to learn from you,” Echo supplied for the medic.

With a bashful smile, Kix finally spoke up, “Echo’s right. It would be an honor, ma’am. Please, show me the way.”

As he was walking away, Kix gave one quick glance back at Echo and Fives with a face that only said “Can you kriffing believe this?” Echo and Fives finally let loose their amused chuckles, and with two casual salutes, the ARCs bid their brother farewell and turned to their Jedi.

“So, Commander, what do the generals have for us this time?” Fives asked.

“Rex hand picked you two for this one. It’s as big as it gets boys. You’re breaking into the Citadel,” Ahsoka informed them with a gleam in her eyes.

Echo jolted off the side of the house, breath coming in pants, needing to put his head in his hand. That was one of his favorite memories, but Echo forgot what it led up to. The gleam in Ahsoka’s eyes. Echo’s excited gasp. Fives confident smirk. Maker, if only they knew what 12 hours later was going to bring them. Was going to bring him.

Recalling the breathing exercises Tech taught him, Echo focused on bringing his heartbeat down and making the ringing in his ears stop. As he gradually recovered, he heard the footsteps of someone approaching from around the house. Based on the soft footfall, Echo knew it was Hunter. He was the softest footed of his brothers next to Crosshair, and sure enough, the sergeant rounded the corner to find Echo slumped at the waist with his elbows on his knees.

“Panic attack?” Hunter simply asked.

“Flashback. Nothing direct. I’m almost back.” Echo rattled off like it was a mission report.

“Mind some company?” Echo looked up and gave his permission with a curt nod. Hunter slotted himself in between the ARC and some feed crates which Echo assumed was to try and give him space as he brought himself back to here and now. Yet, even through the haze of his flashback, Echo didn’t could pick up on the nervous energy coming off of his sergeant. Sure, Omega was almost eaten by a nexu not an hour ago, but he didn’t think it would still contribute to Hunter being this on edge.

“Memories of your old squad usually help, don’t they?” Hunter’s gruff voice broke through Echo’s thoughts, and he looked up with a confused look that had the sergeant chuckling, subtly tapping his ear as if to say, “Enhanced senses, remember?”

“I’d hear you sometimes during your recovery sessions with Tech. Especially during the tougher ones. You’d resort to telling stories of the 501st. I think Tech realized this too. He started to prompt you when he noticed you having a tough time,” Hunter explained. Echo wanted to be surprised, but all Hunter’s observation did was wash a calm wave over his frayed nerves. Typical of his brothers to distract him from the horrors of war even when they weren’t on the same planet – or alive.

A soft sigh escaped his lips as his heart beat finally calmed to a steady beat. Soft rays from the late afternoon sun started creeping around the corner of the house and draped the two in a warm haze. Echo was starting to relax from his episode, but he noticed that Hunter was as stiff as if they were standing at attention on Kamino. Unable to handle the anxiety any longer, Echo spoke up, “Something on your mind, Hunter?”

Echo was expecting Hunter to blink out of his stupor. Maybe jolt his head in Echo’s direction as if he had been lost in thought and forgot the trooper was next to him. What he didn’t expect was for Hunter to let out a deep sigh and close his eyes as if he was struggling to find his next words. Quiet settled over them as Echo waited for him to choose when he was ready to speak. With one more drawn out breath, Hunter finally spoke.

“Have you seen any of the reports coming out of Coruscant?”

Echo’s eyebrows furrowed at the random nature of Hunter’s question.

“We haven’t exactly had a lot of time to take a Holonews break, Hunter.”

“Humor me.”

“No, I haven’t sought out any reports. If I’m being honest, I figured Tech would take on that responsibility and report anything of note,” Echo answered. Seeing Hunter continue to be wound tight caused Echo himself to stiffen. He’d never seen Hunter like this, even with everything that just occurred.

“What’s going on Hunter? Why should I care about imperial reports?”

At last, Hunter’s eyes met his. “Tech was scanning through records and reports during the trip here when he stumbled across something.” Hunter reached across his body, and that’s when Echo noticed a datapad dangling from his belt. Unclipping it, Hunter brought it in front of him and activated it. “It’s an imperial article detailing the attack on the Jedi temple. Would uh, would you like to read it?” He grimaced when he asked. If this exchange wasn’t clouded with nervous energy, Echo probably would have laughed at the sergeant’s attempts to be casual about something that was clearly the opposite.

“Hunter.” The sergeant grimaced again. “Just tell me what’s going on before you make yourself implode.” That earned Echo an amused huff.

“Turns out, the clones didn’t just turn on the Jedi in the field. A clone battalion marched on the temple in Coruscant and wiped the place clean. Tech theorizes that the number of Jedi scattered across fronts at the time was deliberate so the temple was vulnerable. According to Tech, the majority of those in the temple at the time were…”

“Younglings,” Echo finished for him. As he was taking in Hunter’s words, he cast his eyes to the ground finding the Saleucami dirt comforting.

“Yeah, younglings,” Hunter confirmed. Echo felt him angle his body against the house facing him now.

“Why are you telling me this? You’ve sought me out, made sure we’re alone and out of earshot. Why isn’t this something the squad is being briefed on? And why are you grimacing more and more with each of my questions? Hunter, what the kriff are you trying to tell me?”

Echo’s voice started low and puzzled, but it rose with each statement. He managed to keep it to a harsh whisper since clearly Hunter wanted to make sure they had privacy, but his chest was rising and falling rapidly as he tried to puzzle together what could possibly warrant this serious of a conversation. Thankfully, Hunter didn’t make him wait long.

“Echo, I’m sorry to have to tell you this. The clone battalion that marched on the temple? It was the 501st.”

Echo went still. He saw Hunter keep talking, but his ears were static as he processed the last sentence. “It was the 501st.”

When Echo watched the clones shoot down General Billaba, he’d accepted right then and there that he was going to have to process a lot of things that didn’t make sense to him in the coming future. He was proven right as he listened to the new emperor’s speech, as he saw Tarkin oversee clone evaluations, and as he saw Crosshair wearing all black armor. All of that he saw, he processed, and he adapted. It’s what ARC troopers did. But this? “It was the 501st”.

That one statement kept ringing in his head, refusing to be processed.

“Echo? Echo! Talk to me here,” Hunter’s worried voice broke through the static. Looking around him, Echo realized he’d gone from leaning against Cut and Su’s house to sitting on the ground with his knees in his chest, head held in his one hand. He didn’t remember sliding down nor Hunter coming down with him, putting an arm around his shoulder and giving it soft pats attempting to ground him.

Still feeling like he didn’t have complete control back in his limbs, Echo turned his head to look at Hunter. “That’s not possible, Hunter. Of all the battalions, no. It’s not possible.”

Hunter’s face softened as he took in Echo’s desperate eyes. He knew the look well – it was the same look he wore when he watched Crosshair walk into the hangar on Kamino. Desperate that what his eyes were seeing was a sick trick his exhausted mind was playing on him. He saw Echo struggling the same way as he let the news sink in.

“I know Echo, I know. I’m sorry.” It was all Hunter could come up with for now.

“They – they were there for the rescue. When the Chancellor was taken by Dooku. I spoke with Rex on the way to Kaller. He explained he, Jesse, and half the 501st were going to Mandalore while the other half stayed with Skywalker to go to Coruscant. I remember being envious he was getting to go fight with real mandalorians.” An amused huff passed Echo’s lips.

“The other battalions – they – there were on the fronts. It would’ve left just the Corrie Guard and the 501st.” His head thumped against the side of the house again. “But Hunter, Rex and Jesse were both on Mandalore. Who led the attack on the temple?” There was no one else left to lead. Everyone who would’ve been in command were sent with Rex. Even Commander Tano’s short return sent her to the warrior planet, and Echo admittedly wasn’t entirely up to date on the latest command structure of the 501st, but he was sure no one was left on Coruscant to…

Echo’s head snapped up, and he fought with everything he had to not hurl his lunch right there between his legs. “Hunter. Who led the attack? Who led the battalion into the temple?” Echo asked the questions so quietly that Hunter had to rely on his enhanced hearing to hear them.

“I think you know, Echo.”

“Say it.”

Echo felt more than heard the deep sigh Hunter let loose. “The article says the troops were led by General Skywalker,” Hunter finally admitted.

In war, you go through a lot of breaking points. They can be random, patterned, frequent, or rare. But every trooper has at least one story of when they finally felt it all cave in – the taxing missions, the losses, the anti-clone idealists, the deaths. The clones’ engineered adaptability could usually keep these episodes short, but that didn’t erase the mental scarring each one left. As an ARC trooper, Echo received additional mental simulations since it was assumed they’d see more gruesome realities. But right now, all of the mental simulations and breathing exercises in the galaxy couldn’t keep Echo upright.

It happened in slow motion. Hunter watched as Echo processed this last piece. First, his eyebrows furrowed in confusion like Hunter just spoke Huttese. Then, his eyes widened in shock when the words took meaning. Next, his pupils flared with anger like this was a tasteless prank Hunter was trying to pull. But when Hunter didn’t flinch and kept his face passive, Echo’s eyes showed a half second of acceptance before pooling with tears. In one last attempt to keep his emotions in check, Echo closed his eyes, trying to focus on his breaths. And then he crumbled.

The mental and physical exhaustion of the last 48 hours settled in, and Echo let this final hit tip him over the mental brink he’d been teetering over. The tears sprang quickly, and it didn’t take long for his body to be wracked with heavy sobs. As the world turned blurry, Echo found himself thinking one thing, “Thank the Maker Rex wasn’t there. Thank the Maker he doesn’t have to live with that nightmare on his conscience.”

The hangar of the Resolute was bustling as troopers loaded the last of the supplies. This was going to be one of their quicker relief missions, and the offload should only take an hour, tops. As the last troopers were loading into the LAAT/is ready to head down to the surface, Echo hopped up next to Rex.

“Fives make it on?” Rex asked him.

“And miss the opportunity to be revered like a hero? You know better than that, Rex,” Echo smirked at the captain as he gave an eye roll before putting his helmet on. Rex tried, but he was terrible at hiding his soft spot for the rambunctious ARC trooper.

“Listen up troopers, this is a simple offload and base rebuild. We’ll set the survivors up with basic medical, food, and communication capabilities. If time allows, we’ll assist with rebuilds of the school and main housing sector. Denal, you’ll take R2 and make sure their mainframe is online. Kix, you’ll head the medical setup. I’ll dole out the rest of duties on the ground. Understood?”

“Sir, yes sir,” answered in unison. Instead of relaxing though, all of the troopers on their ship, including Echo, remained at attention. Rex smirked to himself knowing what they were waiting for.

“Once your duties are complete, you have permission to free time,” he informed them. Soft whoops filled the LAAT/i. These types of relief missions were Echo’s favorites. Most of the time, they would unload the supplies, set up the required facilities, and then have to ship off to the next battle or war-torn zone. Occasionally though, they had a sliver of time where they could forget they were soldiers and just be.

2 hours later, Echo and Jesse had the common kitchen fully functioning, and they were now helping a group of clones and locals build shelter structures. The locals of this settlement on Haruun Kal were enthusiastic to receive the supplies and help from the clones. Pausing his hammering for a breather, Echo heard a commotion rise up behind him. Glancing in the direction of the noise, he found the source with ease.

Fives, Hardcase, and Appo were surrounded by a group of 12 younglings who were shouting questions at the clones. It didn’t take long for Echo to spot the holoball in Hardcase’s hand, and that answered nearly all of Echo’s questions. Gently, he nudges Jesse next to him.

“Looks like the boys are trying to get a holoball game going with the younglings. Wager on how quickly Fives gets knocked on his sheb?”

“Oh Maker no! They don’t think they’re playing without me!” Jesse exclaims before putting his hammer down and running over. Echo looked around and saw that the structure was complete, so he put his hammer back in the toolbox and wandered over to the group.

“What’s a holoball?”

“Do we have to run with it?”

“Does your armor give you super strength?”

“You’re twice as big as us! That’s not fair!”

“Can I hold your blaster?”

“Are you actually brothers?”

“Have you ever held a lightsaber?”

“Why do you have a tattoo on your face?”

“Ok ok! One question at a time. My brother here is going to explain the rules. Then, if you have any other questions about holoball, and holoball only, we’ll answer them before getting the game started!” Fives attempted to focus the younglings.

When more than 5 seconds of silence passed, Appo got started on explaining the game. Leaning against some crates off to the side, Echo felt a smile crossing his lips observing the younglings listening as if Appo was explaining how to obtain unlimited sweets. A moment later, he felt a presence come up beside him and settle on the crate next to him. Turning his head, Echo noticed Rex observing the scene.

“Holoball, huh? Nice touch. Hopefully, they know what they’re getting into,” Rex hummed. Echo noted Rex’s jaig eyes looking at him from his knee, and he appreciated that this is the most relaxed he thinks he’s ever seen his captain.

“Jesse and I think the younglings are going to run circles around Fives.”

Rex chuckled, “I don’t doubt that for a second. Fives is a skilled trooper, but he’s not the most athletic.”

“Hey Echo, we’re down a player! Wanna hop in?” Hardcase interrupted them from the makeshift field.

"I'm good Hardcase, just want to watch.” Then Echo tilted his head to the side. “What about you Captain? Wanna show them how it’s done?”

Echo was sure the look Rex gave him would skewer a rancor.

“Oh please please please Mr. Captain sir! You can be on our team!” A little girl with curly brown hair and big brown eyes looked up at Rex begging him to join. Echo had to keep his laugh in as he witnessed the stoic captain of the 501st melt directly under the youngling’s gaze. It was a similar tactic Echo saw Commander Tano use against the captain, and it appeared Rex was defenseless against it no matter the being.

“Yeah, Captain! Do it for the younglings!” Fives added with a cheeky grin. Rex shot him a quick glare, but he immediately softened again when he looked back down at the little girl.

“Ok cyar’ika, I’ll play.” The younglings erupted as Rex walked over.

To Echo’s glee, and Fives, Hardcase, and Appo’s horror, Rex turned out to be one heck of a holoball player. His team of younglings stood with rapt attention every time Rex kneeled down to draw up their next play. It was clear Rex’s leadership skills weren’t only for the battlefield because every play the younglings executed flawlessly, and soon they were leaving the other team in the dust.

Eventually, Fives gave the order to take down Rex with any means possible. Next thing they knew, Rex has carrying the holoball down the field along with 3 younglings hanging onto his arms and legs trying to take him down. At the last second, Rex was able to pass off to a young girl, but he wasn’t quick enough to stop himself from being tackled to the ground. Instead of stopping the little girl, the rest of the younglings decided this was the perfect time to take the 501st captain out.

Echo couldn’t believe his eyes. 4 younglings were piled on top of Rex tickling him, and Rex was laughing so hard he had tears in his eyes. Seeing the effective strategy, the other younglings turned on Appo, Fives, and Hardcase and managed to take 2 of the 3 down. So there in front of him was the captain of the 501st, an ARC trooper, and Hardcase on the ground being tickled by younglings. Echo looked over at Appo and Jesse, and after a couple shocked seconds, the three of them were doubled over in laughter. They soon found this to be a grave mistake though, because Rex had managed to gain control of the situation again and rallied the younglings to take down the remaining troopers.

Hours later, back in the mess hall of the Resolute, many were gathered around to hear the story of the great holoball tournament of Haruun Kal. Many parts of the story were going to go down in 501st history if Fives had anything to do with it, but the legend of Captain Rex crying from laughter under a pile of younglings was already Echo’s favorite.

A gentle arm circled around Echo’s shoulders, bringing him back to the present. He felt Hunter give him a gentle nudge in his direction. A simple gesture saying, “I’m here. You’re not going through this alone. Use me if you need to.” If Echo had the energy, he’d take Hunter up on his offer, but his body was exhausted and all he could manage was occasionally wiping the tears from his eyes as he huddled over his knees. Always the leader, Hunter remained at his side allowing Echo whatever space he needed to work through the news.

“Do the others know?” Echo managed to ask when his sobs started to quiet down.

“Only Tech. He came directly to me, but it’s your play going forward.”

After what felt like an hour but was more likely a few minutes, Echo was able to even his breathing and lift his head up from his hand. Tilting his head up to the late evening sun, he let the final tendrils of shock and sorrow work their way out of his system. At last, he felt like he could take a full breath again.

“Thanks Hunter. I imagine that wasn’t an easy one.”

“Certainly wasn’t one of our training simulations, that’s for sure,” Hunter chuckled under his breath. Even Echo found it in himself to crack a small smile.

“Well, thanks for telling me. And for staying with me. That w-that was a hard one to process. If it’s alright with you, I’d like to remain here a little longer while I finish collecting myself.”

“Of course, Echo. I know you’ve only been with us a couple months, and everything’s kind of flipped upside down right now, but you’re one of us and whatever you need, we’ll be right here to help you.” Hunter placed a gentle hand on Echo’s shoulder as he spoke, and when he was done, he gave him a soft squeeze before standing up and heading back inside the house.

The sun was making its final descent behind the horizon giving Echo a sense of relief that this day was done. With a slight wobble in his knees, he stood himself up using the side paneling as support. Process and adapt – that’s all he could do. Taking each day one at a time. Feeling his body relax as he accepted this new galaxy, Echo gave a final glance at the sky. A deep, familiar blue blanketed the quiet farm as if it was trying to reach and wrap around him. A thought from earlier popped into his mind – even when gone, the 501st were there to help him see the next day.

Sensing that the peace and quiet had lasted long enough, the galaxy jolted Echo back into reality when he heard the front door slam and Hunter’s voice following. “Tech! Getting our ship impounded is not my idea of a solution!”

Gifting himself one final moment of quiet, Echo readied himself for the next unforgettable memory his newest brothers have no doubt gotten themselves into.

#star wars #the bad batch #the clone wars #echo #arc trooper echo #the bad batch echo #hunter #the bad batch hunter #arc trooper fives #echo needs a giant hug #captain rex

36 notes · View notes

mythical-illustrator · 5 months

Note

OLLO!

I HAVE A SHIP FOR THEEEEE 💜

Grace x Gregor 👀👀

andoooorrrrr

Helena x Rex 👀👀👀👀

😘💜💜💜

Let me tell you sister Padawan, I've been chomping at the bits on this one.

Grace and Gregor ...this is gonna contain order 66

So Grace is in the hall of healing after permanently being pulled off the front lines. They meet when he gets sent to the Jedi House of healing for treatment after he gets blown up. Grace is stationed there and gets assigned to be his medic for a while. He gets brought in by his brothers who just want to have him checked out and they notice a few strange things they noticed when they rescued him and Plo was able to sign off on him being treated in the temple.

He's quiet at first, sitting in the temple in confusion, like he's not 100 percent sure where he is so Grace starts checking on him and announcing the time date and location when she does. She's there for his initial confusion about who he is, and the things he did when he didn't know who he was. She holds his hands when he cries as the memories slowly come back, she provides him with holo books from the archives and sneaks a few brothers in for visits on the better days.

Shes there when he cries when he can't stop laughing at inappropriate times. She walks him through it, soothing him and smiling and offering him a distraction when he wants it.

While Grace is taking care of him she doesn't realize he's noticed a few things about her. Her fellow healers avoid her or walk on egg shells around her. He notices that sometimes her eyes are a beautiful bright green and sometimes they have flecks of gold.

He's there on her harder days, he's especially sympathetic when he learns why she can't be on the front lines, about her almost fall and the loss of her men and the trust she lost in the force for too long. He starts trying to cheer her up more, practice jokes and a little bit of flirting on her as he gets better and recovers. He asks about her brother, and the men still alive and he tattoos, anything to get her talking.

Shes both Joyish and elated that he's recovering quickly.

Then order 66 happens.

His com rings and he answers it while getting dressed for the by habit - he has half a second to register it's some hooded man and then his body is acting without his control.

Because of his head damage his chip doesn't 100 active unlike his 501st brothers storming the temple. She comes running in, spurred by the sounds of screaming happening in the temple and he tackle her to the ground. They fight, her screaming at him and he's trying to fight it off. Tears are steaming down his face, and he's saying I'm sorry I'm sorry over and over again as he throws things at her and she tries fighting him off.

"run, run Cyar'ika, you have to run" he shouts while trying to stab her.

She does, she force pushed him and escapes, feeling her fellow Jedi dying around her, dodging clones she knows personally as they try and kill her. Her training bonds and her friendships bonds snapping one after each other.

She escapes, flying out as far as she is able to bribe someone to get her. She ends up on Ord mantels, there was an old Jedi contact there. But Cid is bitter and no longer In the business of helping Jedi. She'll hide Grace but there it.

So Grace hides, finds a job as a stocker at a grocery store, anything to keep her going. She burns her robes and sells her armor and hides her lightsaber in the walls of her apartment and tries keeping it together.

She misses the batch, she doesn't hear about the clones working of Cid and Cid doesn't tell them she there. They rescue Gregor, they rescue Hunter and reunite and call Rex all without ever running into Grace.

But Grace is running an errand for her boss to fetch some shipments when she hears a familiar laugh in the crowd. She stops and turns and there is Gregor standing with Rex and a bunch of clones she doesn't know and Echo and she stuck, staring and then Gregor spots her in the crowd.

"grace? Cyar'ika!!!! You're alive" and he goes to run towards her but when backs away, hands up and pulling a knife and eyeing the other clones who are closing in on her.

Echo is explaining who she is to some little blond girl and Rex is trying to make the crowd gathering to move on but she can't take her eyes off Gregor who is looking so serious but keeps giggling.

Gregor panicky explains that it was chips in their heads and they're all gone and they're safe and everything is okay. As he's talking he gets closer and just as he reaches her she collapses, everything just too much and he's there, catching her and telling her everything will be okay.

They cling to each other on the port surround by clones as she falls apart in her clones arms, confessing everything and he hugs her tight and returns her feelings.

And for a moment Grace feels like everything in the world will be alright.

Whelp that made me sad and my brain is already writing a tragic ending for them. That involves Grace getting killed rescuing clones after revealing herself to be a Jedi and it's one of the reasons Gregor goes off with Rex and Wolffe before dying himself.

Anyway

So on to Helena and Rex because I need some happiness in this post.

So Rex and Helena are not aware of each other for a good long while. She's never really met him and he's only heard the faintest rumors at 79 is this supposed spider being.

The Fives happens. Fives toes to 79- he finds kix, tells him to call Rex and then leaves. Rex shows up only...fives isn't where he said he'd meet them. The Couri guards come and investigate - they're acting strange In rex's book. His general eventually leaves to report five missing - confused and concerned about how this all goes wrong but Rex stays behind. Something tells him to stay behind. He's investigating around the area...and he finds the broken piece of a shield generator. He keeps looking, leaving the warehouse and the next thing he knows he's been plucked out of the sky.

He shouts and struggles, going to fighting the person, pulling a weapons on them only for a female voice to shout at him. "yo captain a Rex right? " He holds the... woman tight as she swings them through traffic, confused. "Fixes said look for blue with eye shapes and tally marks."

"you know Fives?"

Spider woman explains how she spotted fives acting suspicious, intercepted him before he could get to the warehouse, listen to the the story and is now trying to help him verify it's Truth . She also explains he threw up a bunch of times and is resting in a safe place. She lands them on a nearby roof, explains everything Fives told her and then shows him the chip.

Helena herself is wondering what is going on. She has spent the majority of the war avoiding the Jedi and their clones as much as possible. Yeah she worked with the Couri guards a lot but this is on a whole another level but Fives has seemed so sure of himself that she couldn't help but feel right helping him. So she does as he asks and kidnaps Rex.

Rex listens then takes out his com and starts messaging people and then the next thing Helena knows she's got the entire tourant company on the roof with her, with a list of questions. They all agree that a lot that is bad and they're going to investigate it together once Fives is better.

They investigate - which really involves a lot of braking in places and stealing files. Rex is hella conflicted and Suspicious but too many things are starting to add up. Helena is horrified by every bit they uncover and it takes months of on and off again work with Helena sometimes having to break in with a disguised fives and reporting to Rex on secret channels. She spends a lot of time communicating to Rex even though she could just have Fives do it. He's just....she likes talking to him fives could stop giving her those looks at anytime.

Eventually the find stuff, go to Cody who goes to Kenobi who goes to Anakin and the council blah blah Palps as sith, killed everyone is Saved.

Rex doesn't know what to do with his life now. He wants to stay and do what he knows except...he can't stop thinking about that lone superhero who helped them simply because she could. So while the Galaxy is cleaning itself back up he seems like a spider-woman. She's kind of hard to find at first but he really just starts following and stopping crime and eventually just runs into her. Which gives him a small reputation as a clone vigilante while doing it. Fox is not impressed . Spider-woman is also a little less than impressed till she watches him fight. Tells him she doesn't really need help but Rex is stubborn and really just needs something to do while the Galaxy falls apart and puts itself back together so he keeps following her and fighting crime and she eventually throws in the towel and starts showing him how she does it.

Helena thought she said goodbye to the clones, with everything out in the open now. She gives Fives back the secret com even though she doesn't want to and Doesn't really wait for Rex to say goodbye, he's got his men and his general. What does he need her for. Only...he keeps picking fights in alleyways with muggers and gang thugs and other lowlifes and then acting like he's doing it on purpose. And apparently he is...he was looking for her and now he wants to help her keep the city good and just by fighting back the darkness. She doesn't know what to do with the warm feeling in her chest when he tells her this so she brushes it away with a joke and tells him he better keep up.

They do this for a long while, fighting off crime together, chasing run away criminals, and sitting on roof tops and eating lunch together, talking. The rest of the clones who are building lives are confused but happy and all of toursnt company likes Spider-woman ,and are teasing their captain about his fired/crush. Rex protests the crush thing. None of them are buying it. But Rex goes out almost every night on patrol and fights crime with his superhero.

Even Anakin and Ahsoka get in on the action of teasing when everything starts Winding down though Anakin really wants to meet the woman with spider powers. Rex is just barely keeping them apart because he knows somehow chaos will happen if they meet.

Thorn is teasing Helena about her crush on rex over the police radio with Fox interjecting that this is all illegal and to kindly please stop wasting their funds. They're getting paid now and it still isn't enough. It is- Fox is just a clone representing now and is extra stressed.

It all comes to a head for them when they're fighting this man on a hangglider surfer board and he's throwing bombs and Rex is wondering where his life went wrong when he gets a little blown up. Helena is freaking out, capturing him, finishing off the bad guy with extreme prejudice and then squirreling away Rex from prying eyes. She treats his injuries, crying the whole time and begging him not to leave her. He's the best thing to happen to her since the bite and he makes life worth living and reminds her there is good in the world. He opens her eyes to see her hovering over him crying and her mask is off and she's rubbing her face and he reaches up and catches a tear.

"what's my best girl crying for?" He rasps at her and blinks at him. She calls him names and hits him and tells him never to do them to her again. Rex just smirks, raises a brow and tells her she's got really pretty eyes. When she glares at him he smiles bigger and tells her she's the best thing to happen to him too. And that he'd really like to get to know her under the mask just as much as he knows her with it. ...if she'd give him the chance to.

She scoffs at him, rubbing her eyes and treads but tells him her name is Helena Hemlock and she's so happy to meet him.

And rex just says "Nice to meet you to Helena" and then kisses her.

...the other clones are all very confused about where Rexs new girlfriend came from. He's just started hanging out with this random engineer from the GAR and is holding hands with her and getting coffee and laughing at inside jokes . Fives whole ass demands him what happened to spider-woman...did it not work out, did she rejects you Vod? Jesse scoffs and asks if Rex is just emotionally stunted and doesn't know the spider-woman liked him back.he doesn't need to go on blind dates.

And Helenas doesn't know if she should be confused or amused. Kix thinks they're all idiots and stares at them all till one by one they all put it together. Rex is embarrassed and tells them all to kriff off.

It takes Anakin and embracing long time to out it together but he's distracted by babies so he's forgiven.

Helena is kissing her secrets identity good bye as it seems like rex is going to single handedly bow it up.

Rex, several months into them dating brings Rex down to the lower levels and introduces him to her Aunt, she had explained that this woman was her second mom and her only family left. So Rex knew this was important and wanted it to go well.

Maria loved him immediately and thought of him as a fine handsome boy. She thought his duel blastrdnwere beewt

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quinntamsin · 1 year

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Kalevala lay in ruins, the Banners of House Kryze and the memories of Satine were erased. Standing there, her body heavy with exhaustion and expended rage, Qwynn removed her helmet. The free air struck her as the harsh brine of the sea filted into the wind.

"Where is Lady Bo-Katan?" she asked.

"We are unsure, " said one of her guards, the black and silver of her armor relaying their direct allegiance. Only the closest vassals could claim direct membership to wear the Clan's colors.

"By the greenglass of Sundari's ruins," Qwynn growled, "We will find our Manda'lor!"

---

The Mandalorian S3E4 | Chapter 20 - The Foundling

*Sighs as her HUD connects to the holonet* We open Chapter 19 with the Creed be reciting by a foundling. With the memries of the Mythosaur and the acceptance of the Scion of a Fallen House.

The massive rugged planet the folk of the Tribe have built is filled with dozens of training warriors. Why do the warriors train so hard, when they aren't building their clans nor are they preparing for war. This makes me wonder if the Tribe has become a sort of ascetic last vestige. As everyone fights Grogu pulls up a little crustacean with a rock.

He then sets down the baby in front of a fucking tween. And the kid decides he's going to get a lesson from Baby Yoda. yup, as the training darts are taken, the small little blaster and Bo decides she's now mom. I like that they aren't judging him for his species, but his size. The bigger kid nails the kid twice in the chest, and decides its time for the force.

Heh.

is this the future of the Mandalorians, a multispecies people. Like they are in the legends.

A massive pterosaur like thing pops out from a cliff and snags the foundling. The older Mando'ade give chase and we get this seriously awesome chase scene. The jumpacks have limited range, and thus they have likely lost many kids to that thing. The Vizla even says "It always gets away."

Luckily, Bo's warship can easily keep pace with the monster so she definitely is changing things up for the tribe. Paz Vizla seems likely he's not really grown up or experienced the Homeworld. I say this because we see that even he heistates on the height of the mountains. Bo counters that she trained in such things, so I think this is another good example of differing backgrounds.

Our Armorer takes Grogu into the forge and shows him as she pours a new ingot of beskar. She explains the cult's viewpoint that through adversity they improve. As the metal she works for a ship pounds we see Grogu frown and scared. He is remembering the attack of the Temple. The clones coming in to execute order 66. Knights and Guardians fall around him as we are pulled further into this PTSD flaskback.

He exits the lift and a jedi greets him and defends against several troopers. As more blaster fire flies our guard jumps on a swoopbike to flee. As we watched the enemy hawk creature fleet and is chased by the Mando'ade the Jedi flies through the canyons of Coruscant's skyways. It seems that season 3 is going to focus a lot of Dichotomy.

We see Pershing and Elia, and now we are learning more and more about Grogu as a person. His fears, and how he has dealt with the trauma of the fall of the Jedi Order. Hell we even get the Jedi swiping pass tht one mountain that Pershing touched in Chapter 18.

"Hold on it's going to be a bumpy landing."

The Jedi hits a floating starport hard, just as he passes a Naboo cruiser. The silvery exterior screams Nabo, and the brave Soldiers defend him further as the Empire's fist approaches. The pounding the harm snaps little Grogu back from the flashback as it's just the Armorer working the metal. He smalls after frowning, has he found a sense of easy.

Turns out that Grogu was getting a present, and he get's a round chest piece with the Mudhorn clan embelm. Fuck that was a great little subplot.

Now, back to Bo and her determination to save the foundling. Momm Bo is ready, she leads her strike-team like any longtime leader. A quick glance at the part reeals another woman with similar armor design and markings. Perhaps a former Nite Owl? The massive mesas and karst that make up this plant definitely portrays something akin to the wild west. Paz being our resident Vizla is here to be a challenger.

"You are the leader of the war-party."

She is left alone as they all recede into the darkness and we see her face clear of the helmet. Her face is riddled with indecision and disquiet. And yes, I like disquiet as a word, so sue me.

They smother their fire and Bo gives out the attack plan. Scaling the cliffface they use their grapples and their own strength to do the rest. I can see how the covert has trained these Mandalorians, but they haven't had Bo's conditioning. She is definitely higher up in the challenge. Well, there is also Din and Paz who are holding both her flanks.

They find the nest and slowly veer off in an inverse v-formation. Paz is the first it seems to reach the top, he is struggling, his heavy gun and armor likely holding himdown. Wht we see is a massive nest filled with Mandalorian helmets. And even more so stolen beskar. Paz rushes in to save the kid who turns out to be his son, as he calls out Ragnar's name the heat signature proves to be hatchlings.

Paz watches in horror as his son is coughed up by our annoying raptor. He saves his kid by literally flying into the creatures mout and wedging it open with his chest piece. The Mando'ade give chase and Paz falls, this leaves the other members of the war-party to take out the beast. So quick words on this thing.

These monsters are not stupid enough I think to understand that the Mando'ade are harmful targets, and ye he keeps eating them. So if you feel bad for the monster and its babys, remember it's been eating Mando kids for a while now. Enough that there were more than one or two helmets there.

They return, the creature dead, and Ragnar in two with his father. Clan Vizla has a new scion and Grogu watches as they all greet the party home. She brings in the hatclings which fits. The Mandlorians use to be beasttamers, and it's good to see the covert accepting her. She gets a new pauldron and she asks for it to be marked by the Mythosaur.

Yes, she will be Mand'alor, and she will revive the Clans! I love that the Armorer greets her and then seemingly tells her that the Mythosaur we all saw was in her head, or was a religious vision.

OKAY!

Gay Canon

Seriously, I am now shipping the Armorer as opposing forces. Yeah, so fucking sue me!

Or maybe Bo, Ahsoka and Barris.

Hottake:

Grogu trying to eat another poor animal reminds us that Grogu is a predator species. Remember those eggs?

Bo got a great arc this story, I like how we are getting more and more hints of how she's likely a form of cultural folk hero.

Paz Vizla being nice to both Din after saving his kid and his respect.

Holy fuck Grogu's escape was definitely a high octane thrill-ride of a nightmare. That kid has some serious PTSD. I am so happy he got a chest piece.

Glad to see that the Mandlorian's are accepting of multi-species Clans.

The Armorer said, "your House", makes me think that there are still elements of House Kryze out there.

Where is Clan Wren though, where IS Sabine?

Ths Mythosaur is going to be a big deal in the finale isn't it.

#lgbt #queer #transgender #lesbian #scifi #science fiction #the mandalorion spoilers #the mandalorian #bo katan kryze #din djaren #the armorer #grogu

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metataxy · 1 year

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I share my dreams with ghosts, #2

Summary: The man who calls himself Luthen Rael was a Jedi once. This is how he survives Order 66, and what comes after. Part 1 here.

Not posting to AO3 until I figure out where this is going!

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He recovers. He is moved to the manor house Luthen shares in the country with his mother.

The real Luthen Rael had gone to the Outer Rim on an art purchasing expedition five years ago. He’d been killed in a raid on the kind of backwater brothel illegal on most civilized worlds. The Jedi accompanying the raid, Halber Rue, had recognized the Rael name. Decades earlier, he’d accompanied his Master to the manor house of one of the Alderaani elite to consider a pair of twin girls for induction to the Jedi Order.

The younger of the two, Elsyn, was Force-Sensitive. The elder, Menica, was not.

As it happened, Halber had maintained a connection with the Raels, and knew Luthen Rael’s mother, Menica, rather more closely than a Jedi should know a rich heiress. He knew what it would mean for her and her family, if their peers learnt her son had been involved in sex trafficking of underage sentients. And he knew what a Shadow could do, given the freedom to move among the Inner Rim elite.

Given just this, electing the correct Jedi for the job and persuading Menica Rael to accept him as her surrogate son would have been simple, but there was an additional advantage: he was her nephew. The same year Menica Rael gave birth to Luthen, Rael Aveross was born to Elsyn Ral, an Educorps Officer teaching refugee youth on the Outer Rim. They sent him to Coruscant as soon as they saw his midicount.

The Jedi Order does not record family names or lineages. They do not recognize parent-child relationships, at least, not in the way the rest of the galaxy understands them.

This is not to say the Jedi do not have children.

But it is to say that there is no documentation to prove a connection between a Jedi born into the Order, and their relatives outside it. No one, outside of Halber and his mother, who he’d only met once in passing, knows—knew-- his background, and so no one was suspicous when he took his cousin’s place. In build and appearance, he was almost wholly alike Luthen. With the aid of some small surgeries and voice training, the distance vanished.

He became Luthen.

Menica is old and fragile, and her memory is failing. He thinks she forgets, or has forgotten, that she is not really his son. So much the better. It had made him feel guilty before, when he would arrive home, and she would run down the stairs to receive him and take him into her flaccid arms and kiss his cheeks with her withered lips.

He opens the door to the manor, and she runs to him now, and all he feels is gratitude.

At least someone is alive to welcome him here.

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Physically, at least, he recovers more quickly at ‘home’, probably because no one here will leave him alone. He is grateful for it. He is frustrated by it. He wonders if Bail Organa suggested to the medical staff that he be placed on suicide watch.

Menica Rael dotes on him as though he were a child. The first tenday after his arrival, he had spent in the canopied bed of his five-room suite, with curtains drawn over the windows. The servants had brought meals to his bedside. He’d eaten perfunctorily, though everything tastes like paste now. He had barely left his bed to use the fresher. His manservant—a new hire, since conveniently, all of Luthen’s personal attendants had died in the same raid as their master—pleaded with him to drink his soup, to avail himself of the new soaps, to let him be dressed in something other than the same nightclothes he’d worn since his release from the hospital.

The tenth day, his ‘mother’ had unlocked his door with the master key and wheeled in her walker, an extremely fat tooka wandering behind her.

“Mother—” he protested.

“Still moping about in bed?” she’d tut-tutted. Her damned maidservant peeked after her. She scooted slowly up to his bed and settled her skinny haunches down on the edge and took her his chin up in a bony thin hand. “Is it a girl again?” She released him, patted his cheek. “I told you, Luthen, you shouldn’t pursue such young ones. They’re not serious enough at that age. You need someone who will settle down with you.”

Luthen stared bemusedly at her. The tooka leapt up on the bed and began to purr.

“Why is it so dark in here?” she squinted. “I can barely see you. Hemilia, the curtains. Open the curtains.”

The maidservant dashed in and set to it with a right will. Menica hmmed approvingly. “Well that is much better, Luthen, and—oh, why are you still dressed in your nightclothes? Bannett,” she called to Luthen’s cowering manservant, who’d tucked himself by the door. “Why is he still in his nightclothes!”

Poor Bannett shrank back under her scrutiny. “Master Rael asked to—”

“Poppycock. I told you, didn’t I, Bannett, that my son occasionally needs a solid bit of encouragement to get out of bed after he’s been disappointed by another one of those hussies?” She took the nightcap from Luthen’s head and flung it across the roof, and then began to unbutton his shirt, as though he weren’t a fifty-year-old man, and she, an octogenarian with chronic arthritis. Luthen’s mouth fell open. She fumbled at the fine fastenings, and then glared across at the hapless Bannett.

“Well?”

Bannett hurried over and undressed him, while Menica turned her back to them and chivvied Hemilia into selecting an appropriate outfit from the wardrobe.

Several repeats of this, and he is willing to be persuaded by Bannett to shower and dress before his mother need get involved.

He is depressed, and she will have none of it.

If he isn’t eating as much as she expects, she harangues the chef to overspice his food. When he comes to breakfast with bags under his eyes, she orders him a new bed, wide enough to sleep five, and chides Bannett to see to it that he sleeps at a normal hour. If he tries to doze during the day, she opens his windows so that the early winter air chills his chambers. And when he doesn’t bathe, he awakes to find a very attractive courtesan in his room who smilingly informs him they’re to bathe together.

He finds himself settling comfortably into the life of Luthen Rael and hates himself for it.

Because all Rael Aveross would have wanted was to be home at the Temple, on his thin pallet with the worn blanket passed down through so many of his people’s hands that you could almost fall asleep from its memories of their slumber. He would have wanted to smell the dry, reptilian musk of the Trandoshan master next door, the faint smell of diesel from the Coruscanti traffic outside, to look out his window to see the thousand lights of Coruscant beaming back at him.

Luthen Rael saw the Temple on the Holonet in flames.

He tries to avoid the Holonet and fails. His ‘mother’, for lack of any better company than himself and the servants, watches it at meals and in between meals. So he watches the dictates of the newly declared Emperor over their breakfast table, and tries not to choke on refried rice and legumes.

The news is dismal. During the Jedi’s betrayal, they are blamed to have assassinated dozens of politicians who had, coincidentally, opposed the war and the consolidation of power by the Chancellor’s office. With the deaths of his opposition and the Jedi, Chancellor Palpatine is establishing a dictatorship. Politicians who support him? Their primary objective for office seems to be stripping as much wealth from their home planets and into their bank accounts as possible.

The main Inner Rim news channels are full of propaganda. The few journalists marked for their integrity seem to have vanished overnight. In the privacy of his room, he turns to the comments sections and the more local broadcasts, and it gets worse.

Social services, already cut back under wartime austerity measures, now cease to exist. Military enrollment is opening to civilians, who welcome it as a way out of poverty. He can’t connect at all to news sites from the Outer Rim. He expects the new government is blocking any independent broadcasting networks from outside the Alderan System.

There is no word of Jedi outside the triumphant news of their murder, or the wanted holos.

He allows himself one indulgence: he downloads every last one of those holos via VPN to an encrypted drive on his computer.

In the evenings, after the servants have at last put his mother to bed, he goes to his chambers and locks the door, and turns on their holoimages.

Some of them he knows intimately: the ExploraCorps pilot with a lop-sided grin he’d bedded whenever they were both at Temple. A Bothan padawan he’d found on search, when she’d been as small and soft as an anooba pup. Some he has seen in passing, across the crowded canteen in the years before the war, over his blade during a quick bout in the salles. Some he has never met.

He hopes he will yet meet them in this life.

He opens a spreadsheet and starts to write down their names for himself, a plan emerging in his mind. At his elbow, the holos of their faces flicker, transparent as ghosts.

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He revives his business trading in art and antiquities, with his cousin’s original stock, along with artifacts retrieved from the caches the Shadows kept for missions such as these, and the contents of one of Dooku’s vaults. Three decades, two padawans, and a galactic war, and the man hadn’t changed the passcode.

It didn’t fit with how meticulous his master had been. The likely conclusion is his Master had wanted him to have it.

The vault’s contents only confirm his suspicions. There are artifacts he could sell to Coruscanti museums for half their year’s acquisitions budget and chests of antique clothes and fossils from worlds where sentient species emerged, and all this, to him, to Dooku, is so much garden variety trash. He lays his eyes on the real treasure at the back: a chest made of some dark wood that had laid at the foot of his Master’s bed from the beginning of his apprenticeship. He punches in the code. With a click and a hiss, it unlocks and unseals. His hands tremble to see the familiar contents.

Holocrons. Probably stolen from the Jedi Archives, though a couple he remembers retrieving with Dooku from extinct Temples during their missions. He’d never given them over to Temple. He lifts one cube carefully from where it lays cushioned in loose wool.

It’s inert and dim in his hands.

He wants to hurl it at the wall, but more than that, he wants to throw it with his mind, and cannot.

Instead, he replaces with a care he does not feel, and removes a red-hued tetrahedron from the wool next to it. A Sith Holocron.

There is a short note beneath it, written in runes only a handful of Archivists could fluently read.

Rael. 1. Start here.

He checks the other Sith holocrons. They’re numbered, apparently to provide a progression through the lessons Master Dooku had planned for him. There are also notebooks, similarly written in ur-Kittat, the ancient written language of the Sith.

He sits down before the chest.

For how long had his Master considered betraying the Jedi? Had considered taking Rael with him?

Not during his apprenticeship, he thinks. He hadn’t learnt the Sith language for that reason. Master Dooku and a handful of other traditionalist had always written to each other in dead languages. It had been simpler than inventing a code ab novo. Rael had learnt ur-Kittat out of the conviction that the messages Dooku and Jocasta passed to each other through him were love notes. When he’d finally decoded a message, he’d found a summary of the minutes for every council held while Dooku was off-world, followed by a dry note expressing Nu’s gratitude that someone had downloaded the grammars for ur-Kittat for the first time since she and Masters Dooku and Sifo-Dyas had been Initiates. He’d been mortified.

But no, Master Dooku hadn’t betrayed them during his apprenticeship, or else he would have tried to turn Rael with him. He’d expressed as much during their last holocall, shortly after the beginning of the war.

“You will never attain the full measure of your potential as a Jedi, my old student,” Dooku had told him, looking serious as ever. “I know you. I know the measure of your passions. I taught you to contain and control them.” The man’s mouth twists. “I would teach you now how to use them. Desire is a compass. We do not fulfill ourselves in denying it.”

“My only desire is that my Master wasn’t such a treacherous ass,” he’d scoffed into the holocomm.

The conversation had devolved from there.

He considers the contents of the vault, the limited space in the smuggling compartments of his ship, the risk of being examined at customs.

He takes several journals filled with his Master’s notes, and a Jedi holocron. After a moment, he gathers the first tetrahedron into his arms.

It’s not as though he can use it anyways.

Go to Part 3 -->

#Luthen Rael #Andor #Order 66 #Star Wars #Jedi #Dooku

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lampmanliveblogs · 6 months

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The Symbolic Significance of Snakes

An Incomplete and Amateurish Exploration of the Symbolism Surrounding Snakes and its Significance to the Story of The Owl House (up to and including For the Future)

I love alliteration.

I gushed a lot in my liveblog of For the Future about Luz’ newly hatched palisman Stringbean (and should this be the first post of mine you read, I have not seen Watching and Dreaming yet, so please, no spoilers) And while I pointed out some of the snake imagery that hinted at the serpentine shape of Luz’ familiar, I really didn’t go into the symbolism of snakes. So I’m gonna do that.

But first, a quick recap of the aforementioned snake imagery that hinted at. This list may be incomplete or missing things since I’m just going off of memory.

Class: Reptilia (a.k.a all the foreshadowing)

As far back as episode one, season one, Luz was paying with snakes, capturing several to use during her book presentation. It might also be worth mentioning that the Good Witch Azura’s enemy in the book she was doing her report on had a Gildersnake as an enemy. Also in episode one, Camila mentions that Luz should make some friends that aren’t made up, or reptiles. So even from the beginning, Luz has had a bit of an affinity for reptiles.

(and since birds are reptiles, it makes sense she ended up with a bird-themed witch)

We also have the recent addition to the Noceda family in Vee, a basilisk/naga/legless lizard/snake type creature. Not only is she all of those things, she is also a shapeshifter, just like Stringbean would turn out to be.

Thanks to Them had a bunch of foreshadowing. In Camila’s nightmare/falshback, we see Little Luz finding a ”snake pajamas” which she excitedly shows off to the other kids at the playground. The same snake skin is framed and displayed in Camila’s bedroom.

(the snake pajamas framed and displayed in Camila’’s bedroom form a circle. This could represent infinity or a cycle of rebirth, and indeed, snakes do represent reincarnation and healing, more on that later. Or, it could be a reference to the Lindworm, a creature from Nordic myth. The lindworm is a large snake, related to dragons that will sometimes bite its own tail and roll around like a wheel. For a funny fairy tale involving a lindworm, check out THIS video by Overly Sarcastic Productions)

Also in Thanks to Them, Luz wears a shirt with an interesting design, with what looks like a staff with a snake coiled around it. One of the doodles in her notebook when she wonders what her palisman would turn out to be was also a snake.

Order: Squamata (a.k.a Snake symbolism in religion, myth, and legend)

Now, when one considers the symbolism of snakes as it relates to Luz Noceda, the main character of The Owl House, there is one particular that likely springs to mind. Trust me, I am going to talk about that one, but I have this really big book all about symbolism and I’m gonna use it.

Speaking of which, most of the information I’m getting for this segment comes from a book called Signs & Symbols, written by Miranda Bruce-Mitford. It’s great book, I highly recommend it, it’s got information about all sorts of things. And while you’re at it, consider getting Myths & Legends by Philip Wilkinson as well. It’s made in the same style.

Of note is that I’m reading the Swedish translated version, and I’m translating that back to English. The original version likely varies considerably.

Signs & Symbols has a page dedicated to snakes (pages 66-67 in my version). Here is an excerpt:

”With its unusual appearance and unique way of moving, the snake has garnered both fascination and disgust. The snake’s simple beauty is contrasted with its complex and mighty symbolic meanings.”

”The snake’s peculiarity, mystery, and the fact that it lives in holes in the ground makes it a creature of the underground. Its twisting way of moving reminded many early cultures of winding rivers, flowing hills, scrubby roots, and even the spiraling cosmos. The result was a multifaceted symbolism which encompasses dualism, fertility, primordial power, and creation.”

”Within mythology and religion, the snake is a dual force that can have both positive and negative symbolic value. It is a guardian and a destroyer, light and darkness, good and evil. Snakes can have deadly venom and swallow animals much bigger than themselves. At the same time, them shedding their skin is associated with reincarnation and healing.”

It goes on to talk about how in Christianity, a snake in the Garden of Eden convinced the first woman Eve to eat the forbidden fruit. God cursed the snake, and thus the snake became a symbol of the devil. Meanwhile, in Buddhism, the serpent king offered the Buddha protection, and is thus viewed in a much more positive light.

Since snakes often live in dark holes, they are often connected to the underworld and the power of the dead. But at the same time, they are also often associated with gods and divine power.

Snakes are often also associated with wisdom. In ancient Egypt, the cobra represented godly and kingly wisdom. The Māori people associate the snake with earthly wisdom while other cultures consider the snake a wise and cunning mediator between heaven, earth, and the underworld.

In Chinese horoscopes, the snake is sensual, creative, careful, and responsible. It can also be secretive and suspicious.

Caduceus is a winged staff with two snakes coiled around it. It is the staff of the Greek god Hermes and has a number of symbolic meanings. In alchemy, it represents the combination of two opposites, the power of transformation and the resulting balance. While interesting, a perhaps more relevant symbolic meaning is its connection to healing, as a winged staff with two snakes entwining it has often been used to represent medicine.

Interestingly enough (and this is something I learned while skimming wikipedia) is that that while the caduceus has been used as a symbol for medicine and doctors, some argue that it’s the wrongful use of the symbol. A more appropriate symbol would be the Rod of Asclepius, a rod entwined by a single snake, and carried by Asclepius, the Greek god of healing and medicine. Many emergency medical services use the Star of Life, a blue, six-pointed star with the Rod of Asclepius in it.

Suborder: Serpentes (a.k.a What does it all mean?)

Alright, alright, but how does any of this relate to our dear protagonist girl and her adorable little familiar?

I did mention in my liveblog of the episode that Stringbean being a shapeshifter represented how Luz’ may not know exactly what her future is going to look like, but so long as she puts her mind to it, anything is possible. I didn’t use those exact words, I said that ”She is Luz’ own infinite potential given physical form,” which is pretty much the same thing. Luz is a person who does not fit into any mold and shape.

So that’s the ”shifter” part of snakeshifter. What about the first half.

While not explicitly stated it is understood that Philip ”Emperor Belos” Wittebane’s motivation is heavily influenced by his religious upbringing. He grew up in the times of the Connecticut Witch Trials (which I won’t go into right now, you can look it up if you’re). Therefore, when looking at the symbolic significance of snakes as they relate to Luz, we might want to start by looking at the snake in the Garden of Eden.

Someone more knowledgable than me could probably go in depth, but to be frank, the study of extant religions has never interested me much. The important part is this: the snake in the Garden of Eden is thought of as a symbol of the devil (or is the devil in some interpretations). The devil is an opposed force to God. What does this have to do with our plucky protagonist girl going on whacky adventures and learning to be a witch?

For one thing, witches were believed to draw their magical powers from the devil. Luz desires to become a witch, so there you have a connection. This being me, I can take it a big step further and connect the palisman with something like a spiritus or milkhare from nordic mythology; these creatures are usually created by witches for various tasks.

More importantly, at several times during my liveblog of season two, I called Belos a cult leader and a false prophet, and not to toot my own horn, but I was totally right about that. He presented himself as a prophet, the only man who could speak with the Titan and communicate his will to the people of the Isles. The Titan, whose very body makes up the Boiling Isles, and who gives shelter and power to the creatures living on it, is essentially the god of the people there.

In Christianity, the only way into the paradise of heaven is through Jesus Christ. Similarly, Belos claimed that the only way for the people of the Boiling Isles to reach a perfect utopia free of wild magic, war, and traffic accidents was through following him. Follow his every word, and the Titan shall reward you.

Cause the Titan he knows me And he knows I’m right I’ve been talking to the Titan All my life Oh yes he knows me And he knows I’m right And he’s been telling me Everything’s alright

Enter Luz ”The Human” Noceda. A being from another realm, who will do everything in her powerto get people to stray from the path Belos has laid out before them. She is the rebellious upriser leading the loyal sheep the wrong way. She is the accuser, the adversary, the opposer to his divinely inspired teachings. By now I’m sure you can see the connections.

Beyond that connection, the snake is a fascinating animal, symbolically speaking, as I went over in the previous segment.

Snakes being ”dual forces” as my book put it, could be tied into the idea of Luz being, as I call it, a child of two worlds. She might’ve been born by humans in the Human Realm, but the Demon Realm has provided much for her and indeed become a part of her. It was there she found people who accepted her for who she is and liked that person. She found a mentor and mother figure in Eda, and a little brother in King. She found friends in Willow and Gus, and an awesome girlfriend in Amity. The life, fate, and soul of Luz Noceda is very much connected with the Demon Realm, easily as much as it is with the Human Realm.

As mentioned before, symbolically, snakes have a lot of double meanings, they’ve been connected to the vast cosmos, as well as the underground, with light and dark, with good and evil. This is kinda similar to how the Human Realm and the Demon Realm mirror each other in a lot of ways. The red trees of the Demon Realm mirror the green trees of the Human Real, rain in the Human Realm is cool while Demon Realm is scalding hot, etc.

There’s also the idea of snakes representing healing and rebirth. It might be said that Stringbean’s hatching following the heart-to-hear conversation with Camila could be said to be a rebirth of some kind. And if not an outright rebirth, then it could be seen as Luz symbolically shedding an ld skin that was holding her back from growing.

There’s also the aspect of healing. As I mentioned above, the Rod of Asclepius, a staff with a snake coiled around it, represents healing. And indeed, Luz was wearing a shirt with a similar symbol in Thanks to Them. One could see Stringbean hatching as a moment of healing for Luz. It could also be symbolic of Luz as a healer that will help heal the Demon Realm of the sickening influence of Belos (who at that moment had been reduced to little more than a parasite, sucking the life out of anything he touches).

Turns out taxonomy is mad complicated and I don’t understand it all that well (a.k.a conclusion)

I was gonna take the opportunity to talk a little about some True Facts about snakes. But to be honest, with the exception of cute cartoon snakes like my beloved snake daughter Vee, I actually find snakes kinda repulsive, sooooo….. but yeah, pretty much everything I know about snakes, I’ve learned against my will. Like did you know that male snakes have two penises? Oh, you didn’t know that and you would have preferred to not know that? Well too bad! If I gotta know, then so do you! Thanks a lot, Hank Green!

Also, HERE is a video of a snake eating an egg.

But yeah, for an actual conclusion… snakes have a lot of interesting symbolism surrounding them and I found some interesting connections to this silly cartoon. I hope you learned something interesting today. I’ll see you next time. Until then, take care of the planet Earth, and remember that anything can happen in space!

#the owl house #liveblog #the owl house liveblog #for the future #toh s3e2

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carolinetano7567 · 1 year

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Long Roads and Short Days. Written by: Moi :3

This is the first thing I’ve done for them in FOREVER but I hope you like it. I will post as often as I can :D

Main Characters: Calypso (OC), Rex, and Gregor.

Warnings: mild language on occasion and Star Wars violence :P

Chapter I

Calypso had not known peace since the beginning of The Clone Wars, but this dream rang with an air of odd familiarity and tranquility. She recalled she was perched atop the Jedi Temple on Coruscant…a place she had only visited a few times in her life. She was side-by-side with a Clone; still rather young. There were not yet any color markings on his white armor. His hair was buzzed, but he was blonde which surprised her. She had found him to be a magnanimous soul; steadfast, loyal, and brave. Even though she was but a young Jedi Guardian, she sensed great things would come of this clone. He called himself Rex. She liked that the Clones named themselves. She found it an admirable quality. Rex had been assigned to her Temple back on Jedha; there she was apprenticed to Baze Malbus and Chirrut Îmwe. Rex and his men had helped take back Jedha from Sepratists and Rex saved her life. They had both been sent to the temple on Coruscant to give a full report, and afterwords they had chatted on a platform that over looked the city in the light of the setting sun. They hadn’t talked about anything of chief matter; just every day conversations like normal people had.

Calypso hadn’t seen Rex since then; it had been fifteen years. So why did that memory resurface? The sound of blaster fire awoke her from her sleep. She was almost glad for it. The ground wasn’t the most comfortable place to sleep.

Order 66 had run her out of Jedha to search for fellow Jedi. Thus far, he search had proved fruitless. She admitted, she had thought about Rex since the Order. Did he execute it, or was he already dead? The blaster fire sounded closer, along with the voices of Imperial troops. She leapt up, and snatched her black cloak up from the ground. She wrapped it tightly about her, and dashed outside of the ruins of a house she’d been keeping shelter in. The night was cool, and clear; but the black triangle of an Imperial Star Destroyer blotched out the moon.

“Damn it.” She mused, and looked quickly about her. There was an alley that branched off to her left, the familiar architecture of Lothal blending into the shadows. She pulled up her hood, and dashed into the darkness.

She pulled up her com. “R-3,” She whispered into it as she ran. There was static as a response. “Those idiots jammed my coms.” She fumed. She would have to find her ship on her own. In the night, she had her faithful droid R-3 split up from her and hide her small shuttle while she slept. They were less noticeable that way. She then heard the voices of clone troopers echoing closely behind her.

They knew she was here.

She scolded herself for having not been more careful. Once the Empire knew she was alive, she figured they’d probably send Inquisitors next. A blaster shot whizzed past her head, jolting her lagging senses awake, and causing her to release a small yelp of surprise.

“We’ve found the Jedi. Blast her!” A trooper yelled as an onslaught of bolts began to rain around her. She whipped around causing dust to stir around her feet. She drew her saber, and in one swift motion, the yellow blade filled the alley with its holy glow. She deflected bolts, sending them back to the troopers that shot them and ending their lives. She flipped her saber into reverse grip, and charged into the ranks; her body recalling years of grueling training. Her mind raced and her heart pounded like a jackhammer against her ribs. A shot grazed her arm, and she gritted her teeth to keep from crying out. The only upside to those wounds was that they cauterized upon contact. She kicked a trooper, and ran him through with her saber. She felt a pang of guilt for killing these Clones. These poor…poor manipulated men. But on the other hand—she was hindering them from being manipulated further, and taking more innocent lives. “I’m sorry.” She whispered as she killed another.

“Call in reinforcements!” One shouted into his com. Calypso slew him, too.

One by one, the brainwashed Clones fell to the frightened Jedi. She hid her saber back within the folds of her robes, and took off running again. Her shoulder burned from her wound, but she knew it was not severe. She needed help, she needed one alert her allies that she had been found…but that wasn’t possible until she found her shuttle and made it off world.

“That’ll be fun.” She sarcastically muttered. She’d outrun Imperial Starships before, and made it out by the skin of her teeth. She didn’t feel much like testing fate for the time being. Suddenly, her body slammed into something solid, knocking the breath out of her. She flopped back onto the ground, and quickly ignited her saber and waved it in front of her.

“S-stay back!” She cried, coming to her senses.

“Woah, now, I ain’t gonna hurt ya!” A panicked male voice exclaimed. Calypso knew it was a Clone. She leapt to her feet, and readied her saber before her. In the yellow light cast from the blade, she saw it was a Clone Commando…but he wore no helmet; just a simple trader’s cloak.

“I don’t want to hurt you.” Calypso gritted her teeth. “Let me pass.”

“I’m here to get you off world, lady.” The Clone held up his hands defensively.

“As a prisoner of the Empire.” Calypso growled.

“No, no, no,” The Clone blew a raspberry. “I’m defective!” He spread his arms, and grinned.

Calypso raised an eyebrow. “You’re…’defective’?” She slowly repeated.

“Yes! Exactly! You ready to go?”

Calypso gawked.

“Oh,” The Clone rubbed his face. “Er, how do I explain this— Ah!” He snapped his fingers. “I didn’t execute the Order. I work with Clones who have had their brain chips removed, and we’re a society that tries to save as many of our brothers as possible. I got word from Imperial Intelligence that there was a Jedi here, so I thought I’d pop over and save you before they got to ya.” He winked.

“You…didn’t execute the Order?” Calypso clarified with bated breath.

“Of course not! That wouldn’t be very nice, now would it?” The Clone’s voice cracked and Calypso suppressed a chuckle. “I see you’ve already had a run in with some of the others.” The Clone nodded to her shoulder. Calypso put away her saber, and covered her wound with her hand.

“It’s nothing. I’ve received worse.” She joked. The Clone grinned. Then they heard the sound of pounding feet and the voices of troopers.

“Ah, great.” The Clone sighed, and rolled his eyes. “Well, Miss, I did come to retrieve you…shall we?”

Calypso hesitated. He seemed far different from the others, although he was still a Clone…but for the time being she didn’t really seem to have another choice.

“Lead the way, Commando.” She shrugged. The Clone grinned, and jerked his head. “I’m fast, so I hope you can keep up.” He chuckled, and he took off like a shot with Calypso right on his heels. “So…you got a name, Jedi?” He panted as they rounded a corner.

“I’m Calypso.” She chuckled airily. “And you?”

The Clone smirked, and his eyes glinted with good humor. “The name’s Gregor! Just don’t call me Greg and I think we’ll get along fine.”

Calypso nodded. “Sure thing.” They both skidded to a halt when they saw the alley bled into a trooper infested street.

“Now what?” Celeste whispered as they slowly backed away.

“Uh—” Gregor’s eyes darted about. “This way!” He hissed. He guided her by the shoulder in front of him, and shoved her onward. Calypso was use to long runs, but she was hungry, and sleep deprived.

“Where are we going?” She huffed. Gregor ran in stride with her as he pumped his arms madly.

“Kriff—you are f-fast…” He wheezed. Calypso flushed.

“Ah! Sorry, Gregor.” She slowed her pace a bit.

“No it’s fine— I could use the cardio.” He puffed. “Keep going down this street…my buddy’s gonna meet us and we can get to our ship.”

“How many defective Clones are there?” Celeste questioned, feeling a spark of hope.

“Who knows?” Gregor shrugged. “We just try to find and free as many as we can before the Empire gets ‘em.”

“Who’s ‘we?’” She further pressed.

“Good Maker, you ask a lot of questions.” Gregor chuckled and his voice cracked again. “You’ll find out in just a—” He was cut off by a hand reaching out of a doorway, and yanking him by the collar inside.

“Gregor?” Calypso called, skidding to a halt.

She peeked inside, and was greeted by Gregor’s hand clapping over her mouth as her back was pressed against his chest.

“Shhh…” He breathed feeling her start to panic. The only light came in pale blue strips from a busted window. She exhaled roughly, and patted his hand. He released his hand and she took a shaky breath. He pulled her down to where they knelt below a window by the door, and Calypso heard the familiar sound of TIE fighters flying over head, and thanked the Maker that Gregor had pulled her in. She heard the methodical marching of legions of troopers not far from them.

“We’ve gotta get out of here; stat.” Another voice whispered. It was firmer than Gregor’s carefree tone, but still belonged to a Clone.

“Coms are down, Cap. I woulda had Howzer pick us up ten minutes ago and leave you here.” Gregor snickered.

“Can it, Gregor. We need to focus.”

Calypso, stood, and brushed herself off.

“Who’s this?” The Captain asked. Calypso peered through the darkness to try and see the him.

“This is the Jedi we heard about through Imperial com chatter.” Gregor affirmed. He patted Calypso on the shoulder.

“This is Calypso! This kid’s a quick ‘un.” He introduced.

“Gregor, I know I’m short for my age, but I’m 30 years old.” She snickered.

“Well.” Gregor replied. “I’m fifteen. I’m just tall for my age. Anyways, this is her.” Calypso saw no used in preforming any sort of greeting to the man she couldn’t see.

“You sure she’s the Jedi?” He prodded cautiously. She couldn’t blame him for being skeptical.

Calypso ignited her blade, and her eyes took a moment to adjust to the luminous light it blazed about the small, desolate room. The Captain’s amber eyes grew wide and he slid down his hood.

“I…” He quietly began. “I know you.”

Calypso gasped and almost dropped her lightsaber.

“You?” She breathed, hardly believing it. “The…Clone who saved me.”

“Yeah— I guess I did.” He gave a wry chuckle and took a step closer. His eyes darted about as he looked at her, his face full of a mix of slight relief and confusion.

He was so much older now. His eyes looked care-worn, and sad. He had deep worry lines in his face; highlighted by her yellow saber.

“Captain…Rex?” She stuttered as her heart skipped a beat. He nodded, eyes still wide. “It’s a good thing we’ve got a long journey ahead.” Rex mumbled. I’ve got a lot of questions.”

#The Clone Wars fanfiction #Calypso #Gregor #Captain Rex #Caroline_writes

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brittlebutch · 1 year

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*pops back in here* That was the most confusing entry yet, and I can’t figure out if the parts before Tim meets back up with Jay aren’t supposed to make a lot of sense, or if I’m missing something.

:3c it's so much fun, I think entry 66 helps to clear up things Just a little but!! i am always happy to write about things >:3c can't tell for Certain if you were angling for that or not tho so just in case you were Not i'll put it under a cut so you can read/ignore it at your leisure !!

Entry 65 is fun because it's a real flex of power from the Operator that we don't usually see from it. There have been hints of it before, like in entry 23, but nothing to this degree. The events that take place after Tim is left behind in the Tunnel are a combination of the Operator's influence and a flare up of Tim's trauma, which does make for a confusing viewing experience lol

The Operator has been shown to be able to effect/warp both time and space before. Not only altering people's memories, which would give the Illusion of time/place distortions, but genuine impact of both those elements. In Entry 23 while exploring Brian's house, Jay is seemingly teleported around the house (and eventually out of it completely) by this force. During the second season - mid to late March - on Twitter, Jay has a couple of weeks where he appears to be experiencing a combination of memory issues And time distortion - he posts about a headache, wakes up a week later in his car with no memory of how he got there, and says he's going back to the hotel, seemingly takes over a week to arrive there, and then takes another week to upload the next Entry, despite talking as if these things are happening within short order of each other.

^That's half of what's happening to Tim in Entry 65 - the Operator's influence distorting space and time around him, bringing him to various parts of the forest, under water, in the Ark, etc. and then back to his car (all in the time it takes Jay to run back to the parking lot linearly)

As for the other half of it: In Entry 66 Tim elaborates a bit on his experiences in childhood inpatient that came to light around Entry 60. The hospital in the Rosswood area that keeps cropping up in the latter two seasons is the actual hospital that Tim stayed in as a child, before it burned down - this is why he returns there after the events in the forest. I can't remember which Entry specifies, but Tim used to manage to escape the hospital fairly frequently as a child and would almost always be found wandering around Rosswood park before being brought back.

While he's in the burnt out shell of the hospital as it exists presently, he experiences several flashbacks to his time there, wandering around lost and begging for help/to be let out. Around the 8:30 mark, he also overdoses on his medication (it's left ambiguous whether this was intentional or not) which also impacts his coherency for the latter part of the entry. He has been up to date on the Marble Hornets channel at this point - so his reaction to the 'HE IS A LIAR' graffiti is because he knows totheark was talking about Him when they wrote it (even though he doesn't have the memories providing context for why they feel betrayed by him).

(Part of that Entry that always snags at my attention is when Tim collapses at the 11 minute mark, if you pay attention you can see the camera shifting with his breath/heartbeat since it's mounted on his chest, and see the way it slows to a near stop Just before the footage cuts OAUGH)

#hopefully this clarifies a little bit if you want it to!! some mild spoilers for Entry 66 though so if you haven't watched that one #I might watch it first before coming to read this if you're interested; it does help add some context on its own as well!!#tried to keep this moderately bare bones so hopefully it helps explain a little without being completely bogged down with details lmao

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meshlasolus · 2 years

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HoM: Order 66 PART II

Warnings: leaving a lot of the warnings the same as it all entails- angst in the beginning, middle, oh and a lot a the end. Angst with Padme, mentions of pregnancy. Did i mention angst? I did? Well there’s more. Death, mentions of blood, violence, friends turning on friends. Anakin is a warning, literally, angst, Mentions of sickness and again, death. Oh yeah and angst.

Summary: After the death of your friend, you must find a place of safety for yourself, but upon learning someone else you care about is trapped in the crossfire, you venture into the Jedi temple in order to try and rescue them.

A/n: It is 2:27 in the morning, I cannot be stopped

also y'all if you like the story, maybe consider buying me a coffee :)

(Please buy me a coffee, i beg… i’m exhausted)

Words: 3k

The security team was more hesitant to let you pass by today, checking you for credentials and making sure you were indeed the Senator’s dear friend. You were unsure of why it would be any different. You’d been here only yesterday. Of course, you couldn’t say you blamed them. Clones all over the city were going rogue, and there was no telling you was safe and who wasn’t.

You stepped into the elevator, finally feeling a semblance of peace in this time, however little.

When the doors opened on the floor of her apartment, you wasted no time in passing by the guard that was stationed there while Anakin was away. He tried to stop you, to make sure you were allowed to be here. It was only protocol, but you were far passed any of that right now. Your friend had just been murdered in cold blood for no purpose other than being in the wrong place at the wrong time, and you needed answers. You waved a hand back, keeping the guard still until you were out of the room. It made you seem far more suspicious than before, but you weren’t here to play games.

“Padme?” You called out into the several rooms, stopping in your tracks when she came out to meet you. She was dressed in a lovely silk nightgown, presumably about to go to bed, but clearly she was struggling to, since she had tears streaming down her face. She came rushing towards you and held in in an embrace, crying onto your shoulder and thanking whatever force that you were alive and okay.

“There’s been an attack on the Jedi at the temple, watchers say that the clones have turned on them and won’t stop until they have all been killed,” her explanation gave you more insight as to what was going on, but it still didn’t give you the information as to why. Why were the clones doing this? What was their reasoning, and why did it happen all at once. This wasn’t a rebellion, it was an ordered massacre.

“Where’s Anakin? I thought he was coming back her to see you after meeting with the chancellor.”

She started sobbing uncontrollably now, and you were certain you’d said something wrong.

“He never came back, he went to the temple,” she couldn’t even talk at this point, her lips trembled in sadness and fear of what may have happened to him. You tried to calm her down, hoping you could come up with a plan to keep her at ease. There wasn’t anything too be settled about this, it was purely chaos, and was diminishing any hope for survival of the Jedi. The ranks they had built, from the ground up, hundreds upon hundreds of thousands of units, all now focused to kill those they fought alongside.

“I’ll go find him,” you said quietly, figuring it out in your head as you went, but not fully sure how you’ll be able to make it happen. You would do it, no matter the cost, because Anakin was your brother, and if anything happened to him, you’d never forgive yourself for not trying. You’d already lost someone today, and given that the assault was on the temple, you knew there were probably more. You knew Obi-Wan was still alive, because if he wasn’t you’d probably be writhing on the ground somewhere from the pain you normally shared with him. Whenever he was hurt, you felt it. If he’d been dead, you would be too, even if it was just in a metaphorical sense.

“No, it’s too dangerous, they could kill you.”

“I can’t stay here. My presence in this building puts you at risk. If I can find Anakin and help him escape, you both can leave Coruscant and be safe.”

She didn’t like this argument, because either way she could lose someone, but as much as it pained her to even think about it, she did not want to let her child grow up without their father, knowing that something could have been done to prevent it. She was still crying, and shook her head, unsure of how to decide. Anakin could already be dead, and you’d be putting yourself at risk for nothing, but something inside of her, deep within her newfound energy told her that he was alive, and wanted more than anything to return to her.

“I’m not asking your permission, Padme,” you recognized the look on her face, the one when she was about to decide a course of action. You would not need it from her, though, as your mind was made up.

“Please be careful,” she said in a firm tone, though her tears effected the solidness of her voice. You knew this wasn’t a suggestion, it was a demand. You were not often reckless, but in order to obtain Anakin, you may have to take a page from his playbook.

You pulled away from her, looking out the window to see the smoke and fire emitting from the temple. It was going to be hell getting in there, but you’d figure it out once you got there. You were good at spontaneous planning, and most often you thrived under pressure. Just like Obi-Wan did.

“I’ll be back, and I’m going to bring him with me.”

All the entrances were guarded, no one went in, no one went out. The bodies of dead Jedi lay on the steps of the temple, and leading inside of it. You were nauseous at the sight of it, but persevered to a tunnel that no clones could no about. It was the one that lead to the underground system. Most Jedi never even knew of it’s existence, but they would now, as it seemed to be the only viable option of escape. The problem was, the tunnels were covertly designed to be small and compact to keep their location a secret, so there probably weren’t too many people able to make it through at a time.

You snuck around the side of the temple platform, far away from any of the clones in sight, and found that the bricks had already been pulled out of place. Someone used it already, but it looked abandoned since then.

You climbed into the crawlspace, remembering how much you hated tight areas, but shoved the thought aside in order to push through. You felt Anakin’s presence, and new that he was near. When you crawled a good fifty yards or so, you met the end of the tunnel. Above you was a grate, that was specifically made to blend in with the ventilation systems on either side. It was clever, and you remembered the first time you stumbled upon it as a child, noticing the way the other two sprouted cold air, but this one never seemed to work. You’d asked Master Qui Gon about it, actually, because he was the only one around at the time. It was one of the few fond memories you had with him, and it wasn’t long after that he was killed. You hoped you could prevent the one he sought after from the same fate. Anakin was the chosen one, and he would bring the force back into balance.

You raised the grate when the hall above you went silent, pulling yourself out and watching for clones that may be patrolling. You stood up and went to round a corner, immediately crashing into the chest of someone. You got scared, and ignited your lightsaber upon instinct, but when your vision cleared there he stood before you, the one you’d been looking for. Anakin Skywalker. He looked angry, and miserable, and you figured he must have seen what all has happened inside the temple. He looked shocked to see you, and very eerie. Almost as if he was upset you were here.

“Anakin,” you were relived, for there hadn’t been a scratch on him. You pulling him into a hug, but he was stiff and would not reciprocate your actions. You knew he had probably seen many horrors today. He held his lightsaber in his hand, and you figured he had defended himself to get to this point. “We have to go, Padme is worried sick for you.”

Again he was stiff, unmoving as you tried to pull him towards the tunnels. You weren’t sure if he even knew about them. You’d never told him before.

“What are you doing? If we stay any longer the clones will kill us,” you explained to him, begging him with all the sanity you had left that he might comply with you, and take your outstretched hand. Did he have some kind of death wish? Why did he stand here like nothing was wrong, why was he so still?

“I can’t leave,” he said, dropping his head to face the ground. You were losing your mind right now, as you heard clone footsteps rapidly approaching from another area. You told Padme you were going to bring him, and you planned on upholding your word. He needed to get his act together and come with you. “I have a duty to uphold.”

“Anakin, now is not the time to be a hero, you’re wife is waiting for you.”

He looked back to your eyes, and when you met his, they were not the pretty blue ones you used to know. They were golden in color, and had a redd tint in the middle. You’d only ever seen eyes like that once in your life, and it was when you looked in the mirror the day after Obi-Wan faked his death. It was a sign of darkness taking over. you gasped at the sight, and began backing away, before you turned into a full on sprint towards another room. He was a faster runner, and caught you with ease, pinning you against the wall and holding you still, though you began thrashing in his grip.

“You don’t need to be afraid of me, I won’t hurt you,” he tried to calm you down, to ensure you tat you were safe by is hand, but you couldn’t seem to relax knowing he’d been responsible for some of this. He didn’t even need to tell you, you could feel it, as soon as you saw his eyes you knew the extent of his darkness. You never realized he harbored it in himself, as you did.

“What have you done?” You were shaking, you didn’t know what else to do, as you were trapped, and didn’t believe there was any way out, not alive, at least.

“You don’t understand, but I can make you,” he said confidently, releasing you from the pillar he held you against and let you roam around. He was dark, from head to toe, it radiated off him like spice from a freight carrier, looming in the air. “I have become more powerful than any Jedi could possibly imagine, and once I’ve completed my mission, I will even be able to save the people I love.”

“At what cost? Anakin, this darkness, it’s not who you are, all this bloodshed on your hands should never have been spilt,” you knew it was too late for him, you sensed it. He was always set in his new ways, and didn’t care what the price was, he was prepared to pay it, all of it. Your heart broke to see how far he had strayed from the teachings he’d been given, same as you. It was something of a disaster, the scene of him walking in front of you, not a care in the world as to what he had done.

“The darkness has always been there, and it was waiting to help me become one with the force in all the ways the Jedi would never allow. You more than anyone should know how that feels.”

He was right, you did know how that felt. In your case, though, you had nothing left to lose. You’d lost the love of your life, or at least you thought you did, along with your mentor and closest person in your life. They were one and the same, and you didn’t know if you’d ever recover, but then you found out he was alive, and you felt shame for ever turning to a force that was darker than anything you’d ever used before. It felt wrong, and dirty. It felt like you were covered in mud and needed a shower to rid yourself of all the horrible stains that had become embedded into your skin. The darkness may have been inside you, but it never belonged there. You were worried that once Anakin had come to realize this himself, it would be too late to reverse it.

“It’s not what it’s made out to be. It makes you full of regret, and leaves you with a scar that never heals,” you had tears in your eyes for what had to be the tenth time today. You couldn’t seem to avoid it, and were constantly standing in tragic situations that invoked awful emotion.

“You were never trained to harness it. If you join me now, you will receive this same power, and I can teach you how to use it,” he was smiling like a mad man, and you were more afraid of him now than you had ever been. This wasn’t even him, anymore. This was a monster in the body of Anakin Skywalker. This was not the boy you had grown up beside and loved since you met him in this very room all those years ago.

“I won’t join you, Anakin. Can’t you see that what you’ve done is terrible?” You wanted to get through to him, if only enough for him to let you go, but you were beginning to think that he was so undone at this point, he may even kill you to prevent you leaving this room.

“From my point of view, I’ve made peace, and disposed of a corrupt order before they could destroy the galaxy. If you could only see things my way,-“

“Enough! Anakin, this is madness. I will never join you, because it goes against everything we ever learned, everything Obi-Wan ever taught us. I can’t believe you would follow such a dark path,” you cried, the tears rolling down your cheeks and onto your robes, which were stained with Mak Lotor’s dried blood, already.

He was angry, not with you specifically, but with the fact that he knew you wouldn’t turn, not while Obi-Wan was still alive. He knew that had the man been dead, you may have switched sides without hesitation.

“If you’re not willing to conform to the new laws of the chancellor, then you have committed treason, and I have no choice but to kill you,” his eyes turned gold again, and he ignited his lightsaber. He was the only one who could ever beat you, and when fighting him, you lost every time. You had no cards left to play, and you weren’t in the shape to fight anyone else. You were drained, physically and emotionally, and if you had to raise your saber one more time, you would surely die. You knew it was coming, the sting of his fiery blade was inevitable, but when he raised it into the air, you spouted the last words you could possibly muster that might stay his blade.

“I’m sorry, Anakin.”

You weren’t just using it as a ploy to get away, you really meant it. He had been dealing with terrible troubles lately, and you never noticed. You weren’t there to help him with the nightmares, or talk him through an episod of heat and anger. You weren’t there to stop him from going back for the chancellor, or to keep him from pledging his allegiance to the corrupt politician and Sith lord. You weren’t there, and you should have been.

He was about to bring down his arm, which would split you in two halves, but stopped before the saber could even burn a hair on the top of your head. He looked down at you, and he saw the little girl he met when he was only nine. You were seven at the time, bright and optimistic, though you’d been bullied for years. He saw the girl who at only twelve years of age started having horrific nightmares because she helped him with his own, carrying them for him as if it were a simple task. He saw the girl who always wanted to help him, even when it went against the Jedi code, because it made him happy. He saw the girl who stood by as the only witness when he married the love of his life. He saw the girl who never abandoned him, or gave him up like all others did. He saw someone that he couldn’t harm even if he tried to. You were his sister, and if he killed you, now, he would regret it for the rest of his life.

He dropped his weapon, and heaved heavy breaths as he furrowed his brows. He was disobeying direct orders from the chancellor by letting you go, but he couldn’t let you get hurt.

“Run,” he said under his breath, catching your eye line again, his eyes returned to that lovely shade of blue, though there was still darkness looming within them. “Keep running, and never turn back.”

You didn’t waste another moment before bolting away from him. You knew that while he gave you a chance, you needed to take it, because there wouldn’t be another one. He was consumed, now. No doubt about it.

You made sure the coast was clear before trying to make it back to the floor grate. You ran back to it, but then you heard a cry for help. Not a physical cry, but one that could be heard and felt through the force. It was coming from the archives.

You could have kept going, saved yourself and the life of your unborn offspring, but you wouldn’t be a Jedi if you hadn’t thought about others above yourself. The Jedi were selfless, offering themselves as a sacrifice to protect the lives of those who couldn’t protect themselves.

“I must be out of my mind,” you murmured to yourself, running to the archives and avoiding clones at any cost.

It started with one, Madame Jocosta, who had gotten trapped under some collapsed archive shelves. Once she was on her feet, you realized there was another. A child who was hiding for their life under a desk, and had gotten passed by the small clone squadrons who were patrolling every area.

It started with one, but now it was seven. Seven lives that you’d manage to save by sneaking them out through the tunnels. Madame Jocosta had stayed behind with you to help, remaining by the grate to help the younglings escape. Once they were outside, it depended on them to find shelter, but you figured they were better off out there than they were in here.

You’d killed twelve clones. Twelve members of the 501st in which you’d fought with. Twelve clones that you spent time with and laughed with, telling jokes and playing card games. You killed them and you had no other choice but to do so, lest they shoot holes through your body and you be rendered useless…. and dead.

After the first child had been rescued, you wrapped a blindfold around your eyes, letting your senses become more in tune with the force. You were seen as crazy for using this method, which had long been forgotten by most masters when teaching their younglings and Padawans over the years. Everyone said you were just showing off, and that there was no way this could possibly help you in battle, but it did. You were able to feel your surroundings more than you could ever see them. You could sense everything everywhere all at once, and it was helpful to keep you focussed, rather than worry about what your eyes were seeing.

You were following the call through the force of the eighth child as it were, doing your best to find where they hid. You stopped when you sensed the bodies that lay on the ground around you. They were all dead, all but one, who had pulled the others over top of her to avoid being seen. The poor child was traumatized, and would never forget this day, but neither would anyone who survived.

“Are you here to save me?” You heard a small whisper, and you nodded, reaching out your hand. She sounded to be a little girl, probably ten or eleven at most. You raised the blindfold to your forehead, looking her in the eye to make sure she felt safe to come with you. The rest of her friends were killed by a lightsaber, by Anakin, so she was probably unsure of who to trust.

“I am, but I need you to stay quiet and do as I say, do you understand?” She nodded her head up and down, rapidly, standing to her feet and trying to continue, but you saw she was injured. There were burn marks on her robes, and she was hunched over. You scooped her up in your arms, lowering the blindfold, and beginning the long trek to the other side of the temple, where the grate to escape was. You wondered if she would need help getting through the tunnels, but that wasn’t the focus right now. “What’s your name?”

She shook slightly while gripping tightly her arms around your neck. Her answer was hesitant, but loud enough for you to hear.

“Reva.”

You huffed out, making sure she was securely holding onto you before you began to move.

“Alright, Reva… Hold on tight, and if I tell you to run, go to the east wing near the archives. Someone will be there to help you,” you held your saber in hand, unignited for the sake of secrecy, as the light and sound would both give you away to anyone who was watching from further away.

“Okay,” she understood well enough, and you were off a second later.

It was a miracle no one had spotted you, as you were out completely in the open this time, the urgency to get her out was more important. You made it to the east wing with only one complication, and you removed your blindfold to ensure that she made it into the tunnel. She assured you both that she could get through on her own, and you let her, knowing there might be others who would need your help.

“We can’t do this forever,” madame Jocosta was tired of this horrible waiting game, each time hoping that you hadn’t dropped dead while trying to save a child, and she knew that at some point you both would have to leave, to go help others in places that were not so dangerous.

“I just wanna get one more.”

“That’s what you said last time,” she was concerned for you, and was wondering if there was somehow a meaning behind all of this. The Jedi order was completely destroyed, gone forever, along with most of its ideals, but still, here you were, upholding the code and putting others before yourself until it got you killed.

“I mean it. One more, then it’s time to go.”

You were looking for another child, but could not hear any more calls in the force to where they might be hiding. You couldn’t hear any little voices echoing through your head, though you beckoned them to you. Had you gotten them all out? Had the others been killed before you could get to them? You would consider yourself a failure if that was the case. If you were not strong enough to save those children, then what made you think you could protect one of your own? You were not a mother, and probably never would be one in a true sense. You may have a child, but you couldn’t be a mother.

You were about to turn back, to give up and realize that this was it, this was the end of your endeavor, but then you sensed a life form, and a young one at that. It’s innocence drew you in to the room you felt it resided in, but you couldn’t tell if you were near it or not. You hadn’t ut your blindfold back on, but you still couldn’t see anyone here. You stepped forward until you accidentally kicked something. It looked like a mechanical egg of some sort. You were suddenly pulled to it, the energy you sensed was coming from the pod that lay in the middle of the walkway. You hadn’t remembered it being here the first time you came in, but now it was there, and you couldn’t stop looking at it. You knelt down and pushed the button on the font, opening the sides to reveal… a tiny yoda? It looked just like him, with his long ears and little nose. The little wispy hairs upon his head among his light green complexion. His eyes were so big, wide with so many emotions, and you knew that he was going to be the last one you took. You were going to bring him with you, whatever he was. He was just a baby, and needed help in this tumultuous time.

His little arms reached up to you, begging to be taken, and your heart broke, knowing he was probably left by someone who knew they couldn’t escape with the extra weight on their shoulders.

“Don’t worry, it’s going to be okay,” you told him, pulling him from the pod and against your chest, letting him rest his tiny head there. You suddenly felt a very maternal instinct wash over you, and you felt determined to make sure he was taken care of. He was so small, so helpless, just a baby.

You weren’t too far from the archives this time, as you hadn’t journeyed far to find him. Once you were back at the grate, Madame Jocosta beamed with joy.

“The last one,” she looked to you for confirmation and you nodded.

“The last one.”

She lifted the grate, preparing to let you in first, but then a blaster shot went right past you head, scorching the wall in front of your face. You looked behind you, seeing that a single clone was standing at the end of the hall, calling for backup.

“Take him, I’ll be right behind you,” you handed him over, and she didn’t argue, holding the small green being close to her as she began the long crawl to freedom. You ignited your saber again, deflecting the shots that came, and readied yourself to fight when the other clones arrived. These were your friends, the people you shared tables with in the morning for breakfast, and now they were trying to off you at any chance they got.

You needed to stay in this corner, though it would put your ability to fight at risk, it was necessary to make sure no one else got through that tunnel until Madame Jocosta and the youngling had time to escape. You were feeling weaker than you normally did, as the long and horrendous day had taken the energy out of you.

The backup the clone ordered had finally arrived, and you did your best to keep them at bay, but as they came closer, you knew you couldn’t hold on. This wasn’t how it was supposed to end, but you had a feeling come over you that your time had come. As you struggled to deflect the shots, the first one had entered your body, right below your ribs. You dropped your lightsaber, a single tear running down your face. Another shot hit you on the side of your stomach. You stretched out through the force, trying to reach Obi-Wan to give him your last thoughts, but then the final shot entered you, directly into your abdomen, and you blacked out, unable to coherently think as everything turned black.

You were unconscious, but not dead, though you soon would be. you could feel yourself in a dream like state, except it was all still dark around you, and the things you sensed were only feelings floating around in your head.

You were unsure of what to do with these feelings, as they did not help you whatsoever In fact, they made your situation worse. They were only reminders, of what you’d failed to do, whom you’d failed to protect, and every bad decision you made that lead up to this point. you weren’t in a clear state of mind, obviously, but you didn’t understand why these things were being blamed on you, or rather why you were blaming yourself. It wasn’t your fault that any of this happened, or that there was likely a new war starting, but your subconscious was blaming you for it all. You were a mess of feelings, and hoped they would all just melt away, and then they did. As light poured into your eyes, and you began to wake up, they faded to the back of your mind, and you had only one objective: survive.

tags:

@spencerrxids @sawendel @fandomstanner24 @i-shall-abide @officialjellydoughnut @whatshxrname @darkened-writer @superavengerpotter @cutiepoo16 @hypnoash @softlymellow @howlerwolfmax @mephistominion @honestlywtfisgoingon @anakinskywalkerog @mandiiellen @je--a-n @guyinachair27 @avenger5-a55emble @amelia-song-pond @kaminanii @the-abyss-of-fandoms @queenofnightdreamland @world-dominating-kitty @mandowhatnow @ella-error505 @annahalo @infinity-witch @beetlejuice-stuff @liueski @solarbxby @sirianisrock @lxdyred @endless-warrior-always-fighter @iloveinej @msjb2002 @shoochi @itsilvermorny @gingerrosecosplay @sebschicken @loversjoy @argentinemango @1-800-vader @house-of-kolchek @marierg @graciexmarvel @ttzamara @truly-madly-nerdy @molieux @majahu @dyzlks @pancakefancake

#obi wan kenobi #obi wan series #obi wan x reader #obi wan kenobi x reader #obi wan x padawan #ewan mcgregor #anakin skywalker x reader #hayden christensen #anakin skywalker #anakin x reader #house of memories #house of memories order 66 #HoM order 66 #obi wan kenobi x padawan!reader #Spotify

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critical-quoter · 5 months

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October Books

(Look at that... Just a few short massive posts and I'm all caught up with my monthly books read.)

Twisted Game - Eva Ashwood ⭐⭐ Temptation - Ivy Smoak ⭐ Broken Souls - Ariana Cane ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ Kenna's Dragon - Leigh Miller ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ Chasing Your Ghost - Maggie Fields ⭐⭐⭐ Of Deathless Shadows - K. M. Moronova ⭐⭐ Bittersweet Memories - Catharina Maura ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ Silver or Lead - Darcy Halifax ⭐⭐⭐⭐ One-Way Ride - Darcy Halifax ⭐⭐⭐⭐ Tempted - Zoe Ashwood ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ Ensnared - Zoe Ashwood ⭐⭐⭐⭐ Seduced - Zoe Ashwood ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ Screwed - Torri Heat ⭐⭐⭐⭐ When She Unravels - Gabrielle Sands ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ Return to Us - Corinne Michaels ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ Consolation - Corinne Michaels ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ Conviction - Corinne Michaels ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ The Warrior Midwife - E. P. Bali ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ The Warrior Priestess - E. P. Bali ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ The Warrior Queen - E. P. Bali ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ Fated Crossing - Michelle Rose ⭐⭐ The Society #StalkerProblems - Ivy Smoak ⭐ Hookah Smoking Caterpillar - Beatrix Hollow ⭐⭐⭐⭐ Fire and Ice - Victoria Paige ⭐⭐⭐⭐ Truth and Other Lies - Lyra Wolf ⭐⭐⭐⭐ The Order of Chaos - Lyra Wolf ⭐⭐⭐⭐ Eat Your Heart Out - Eden O'Neill ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ Grumpy Romance - Nia Arthurs ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ Sweet Venom - L. A. Ferro ⭐⭐⭐ Crooked Paradise - Eva Chase and Harlow King ⭐⭐ Hopeless - Elsie Silver ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ Best Laid Plans - L. K. Farlow ⭐⭐⭐⭐ Cruel Deception - Monica Kayne ⭐⭐⭐⭐ Summer's Snow - Carly H. Mannon ⭐⭐⭐⭐ The Payback - Julie Weaver ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ Man Possessed - Haley Tyler ⭐⭐⭐⭐ Carter's Flame - Tiffany Patterson ⭐⭐⭐⭐ King's Bride - Beck Michaels ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ Ascend - Swati M. H. ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ Scandalous Games - Simran ⭐⭐⭐⭐ Flow - Kennedy Ryan ⭐⭐⭐ Divine Wickedness - Lexes L. Saia ⭐⭐⭐⭐ Ranger - Dr. Rebecca Sharp ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ The Ever King - L. J. Andrews ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ The Devil's Reward - Emily Rose ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ Captured Light - Raya Morris Edwards ⭐⭐⭐ Curse of Shadows and Thorns - L. J. Andrews ⭐⭐⭐⭐ Court of Ice and Ash - L. J. Andrews ⭐⭐⭐⭐ Academy of Protectors - Gray Holbern ⭐ Icebreaker - Hannah Grace ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ Bait - Jade West ⭐ Triple Threat - K. Webster ⭐⭐⭐ Faux Beau - Marina Adair ⭐⭐⭐⭐ Den of Vipers - K. A. Knight ⭐ Animus - Ophelia Bell ⭐⭐⭐ The Hating Game - Sally Thorne ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ A Broken Throne of Bronze - Renna Ashley ⭐⭐⭐⭐ Star-Crossed Letters - Sarah Deeham ⭐⭐⭐⭐ A Bond of Broken Glass - T. A. Lawrence ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ A Throne of Blood and Ice - T. A. Lawrence ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ A Voice Without Reason - Irene Bahrd ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ The Call of the Sea - Kate Schumacher ⭐⭐⭐ Hate You Later - Ciara Blume ⭐⭐ Mute - M. L. Nystrom ⭐⭐⭐⭐ Escaping Liam - H. L. Swan ⭐⭐⭐ House of Earth and Blood - Sarah J. Maas ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐

66 total books read for October 2023

#book #books #booklr #book lover #book quotes #reading #quote #lit #literature #novel #october reads #october 2023

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brookstonalmanac · 6 months

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Events 11.13 (after 1960)

1966 – In response to Fatah raids against Israelis near the West Bank border, Israel launches an attack on the village of As-Samu. 1966 – All Nippon Airways Flight 533 crashes into the Seto Inland Sea near Matsuyama Airport in Japan, killing 50 people. 1969 – Vietnam War: Anti-war protesters in Washington, D.C. stage a symbolic March Against Death. 1970 – Bhola cyclone: A 240 km/h (150 mph) tropical cyclone hits the densely populated Ganges Delta region of East Pakistan (now Bangladesh), killing an estimated 500,000 people in one night. 1982 – Ray Mancini defeats Duk Koo Kim in a boxing match held in Las Vegas. Kim's subsequent death (on November 17) leads to significant changes in the sport. 1982 – The Vietnam Veterans Memorial is dedicated in Washington, D.C. after a march to its site by thousands of Vietnam War veterans. 1985 – The volcano Nevado del Ruiz erupts and melts a glacier, causing a lahar (volcanic mudslide) that buries Armero, Colombia, killing approximately 23,000 people. 1985 – Xavier Suárez is sworn in as Miami's first Cuban-born mayor. 1989 – Hans-Adam II, the present Prince of Liechtenstein, begins his reign on the death of his father. 1990 – In Aramoana, New Zealand, David Gray shoots dead 13 people in a massacre before being tracked down and killed by police the next day. 1991 – The Republic of Karelia, an autonomous republic of Russia, is formed from the former Karelian ASSR. 1992 – The High Court of Australia rules in Dietrich v The Queen that although there is no absolute right to have publicly funded counsel, in most circumstances a judge should grant any request for an adjournment or stay when an accused is unrepresented. 1993 – China Northern Airlines Flight 6901 crashes on approach to Ürümqi Diwopu International Airport in Ürümqi, China, killing 12 people. 1994 – In a referendum, voters in Sweden decide to join the European Union. 1995 – Mozambique becomes the first state to join the Commonwealth of Nations without having been part of the former British Empire. 1995 – Nigeria Airways Flight 357 crashes at Kaduna International Airport in Kaduna, Nigeria, killing 11 people and injuring 66. 2000 – Philippine House Speaker Manny Villar passes the articles of impeachment against Philippine President Joseph Estrada. 2001 – War on Terror: In the first such act since World War II, US President George W. Bush signs an executive order allowing military tribunals against foreigners suspected of connections to terrorist acts or planned acts on the United States. 2002 – Iraq disarmament crisis: Iraq agrees to the terms of the UN Security Council Resolution 1441. 2002 – During the Prestige oil spill, a storm bursts a tank of the oil tanker MV Prestige, which was not allowed to dock and sank on November 19, 2002, off the coast of Galicia, spilling 63,000 metric tons of heavy fuel oil, more than the Exxon Valdez oil spill. 2012 – A total solar eclipse occurs in parts of Australia and the South Pacific. 2013 – Hawaii legalizes same-sex marriage. 2013 – 4 World Trade Center officially opens. 2015 – Islamic State operatives carry out a series of coordinated terrorist attacks in Paris, including suicide bombings, mass shootings and a hostage crisis. The terrorists kill 130 people, making it the deadliest attack in France since the Second World War.

#Events

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youtwitinmyface · 6 months

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SUPERMAN ADVENTURES #16

Written by Mark Millar Drawn by Aluir Amancio Published by DC Comics Superman: The Animated Series was a cartoon that launched on TV in September 1996. One month later DC Comics launched this comic-book series to go along with it. The comic was set in the same continuity as the cartoon and lasted 66 issues (12 issues more than the cartoon's 54 episodes). The series employed several different writers, all mostly writing single-issue stories that could be read in any order, and artists who were deliberately imitating the artist still of Bruce Timm, the animator of the cartoon. I'm going to start reviewing the issues of this series that were written by Mark Millar. Millar was 27 at the time and still breaking into the American comic book industry as a writer. It's interesting to look back at these issues, as the simple all-ages stories are drastically different in tone from the action-packed and violence-prone adult-oriented stories that he would become known for later in his career.

This issue is titled, CLARK KENT, YOU'RE A NOBODY. Clark Kent discovers that he's lost all of his powers, as well as all evidence that he was Superman (his costume has disappeared too). Clark even tries exposing himself to Kryptonite, but it has no effect on him, proving that he's fully human. He takes a plane back to Smallville to visit Ma and Pa Kent to discuss it with him, but they act like they have no idea what he's talking about, as they have no memory of him being Superman. Meanwhile, Superman is shown to be fully active, stopping regular criminals, supervillains, and saving people from natural disasters (including saving Clark and The Kents from a tornado that was heading to their house). So what's going on?!?

Spoiler alert, I guess.

It all turns out to be the latest plot by Superman's long-time nemesis, the 5th Dimensional imp, Mr. Mxyzptlk. He's behind it all and is the one impersonating Superman. After figuring this out, Clark manages to trick Mr. Mxyzptlk into saying his name backward twice (although he only needs to say it once in most comic book continuities, but either way he remains dimwitted enough to regularly be tricked into saying it), so that everything is reverted to normal. This issue is a fine introduction to this version of Superman, whether you've watched the cartoon or not you'll easily be able to follow the story. Mark Millar slips in a funny sequence where Clark gets mugged by two guys who beat him up and steal his wallet, and when a cop finds him he remarks that without his glasses Clark looks like Superman. And Aluir Amancio apes Bruce Timm's animated style very well. Check it out!

#Mark Millar #dc comics #superman #Superman Adventures #Superman Adventures by Mark Millar #comic book reviews #J.R. LeMar reviews comic books #Aluir Amancio #superman the animated series

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paramountgroup · 9 months

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2 and 3 BHK Flats in Greater Noida – Game Changing Luxury Residential Projects

With increasing urbanization and the development of high-rise buildings and residential complexes across megacities, it becomes important to look for the most appropriate 2 and 3-BHK flats, especially in cities such as Greater Noida. If you are actively searching for good 2 and 3 BHK flats in Greater Noida that are spacious and luxurious, then we have found the perfect match for you with luxury residential apartments in Greater Noida by Paramount Group.

By offering luxury, comfort, and unlimited space in 2 and 3-BHK flats in Greater Noida, Paramount Group assures you and your loved ones to create beautiful memories and enjoy the much-needed coziness in the corners and appropriate space for conducting all your daily activities. The idea of enjoying a lavish and envious lifestyle that is in itself representative of grandeur and utmost leisure is easily fulfilled by purchasing apartments in Greater Noida that are curated by Paramount Group.

Let us look at the quintessential features of 2 and 3 BHK flats in Greater Noida beautifully designed and put together by Paramount Group under two interesting projects.

Key Features of Luxury 2 and 3 BHK Residential Projects in Greater Noida

Paramount Group has developed various luxury residential projects which include 2 and 3 BHK flats in the Greater Noida region. In order to arrive at the decision of shortlisting the appropriate apartment of your choice, let us analyze the significant features of a few apartments in Greater Noida under the Paramount Group.

Paramount Emotions:

Paramount Emotions is a luxury residential project that involves spacious, lush green, and comfortable apartments in Greater Noida. The scheme is implemented in a manner that provides a green and scenic environment to the residents as well as appropriate proximity to the city center by providing 2 and 3-BHK flats in Greater Noida in the most prime locations.

The biggest advantage of living in such a scheme is that it is built and constructed mindfully by considering the available spaces in the entire plot area and adjusting the appropriate distance between each of the 18 individual towers named after different human emotions. The property allows each resident to experience space and luxury at the same time by providing residential options for both 2 and 3-BHK flats as well as multiple-room apartments.

The approximate area per unit of the residential project spans 1160 to 1710 square feet. This luxurious residential project is located in the Noida Extension area. The approximate price of the apartments in Greater Noida under this scheme range between 45 to 66 lakhs. By offering direct sunlight and a majestic lifestyle, Paramount Emotions are the ideal apartments to satisfy all your demands for housing!

Paramount GolfForeste Apartments:

Paramount GolfForeste Apartments are luxury residential apartments in Greater Noida specifically designed and curated for those looking for housing at cheaper and reasonable rates. The given project offers 2 and 3 BHK flats in Greater Noida that are instilled with comfort as well as luxury. Situated in the countryside area of Noida and away from the rush and hustle-bustle of the main city, they guarantee their residents a sense of calm and tranquility amidst their busy lives.

The apartments are spacious and designed while keeping in mind the contemporary and modern mindset. Thriving in a vicinity of essential service providers including sports complexes, theaters, schools, service centers, creative arts studios as well as commercial hubs adds an advantage to those looking for good housing equipped with the basic services at a reasonable distance. The entire project is implemented in a low-density area and helps one enjoy and cherish nature by residing alongside it.

The residential projects offer apartment configurations as 2 and 3 BHK flats. Spread across an approximate unit area of 1555 to 1730 square feet, these apartments are priced between 63.75 to 70.93 lakhs. These apartments are located opposite Zeta Sector in Greater Noida. By providing ample space at low and affordable prices, Paramount GolfForeste Apartments are the perfect choice for those looking for budget-friendly housing apartments in Greater Noida.

How do I purchase Apartments in Greater Noida under Paramount Group?

One can easily book 2 and 3 BHK flats in Greater Noida under Paramount Group by surfing their website and looking for suitable apartment options as per their specific features and price quotations. One can also approach the property agents associated with Paramount Group by calling directly on their contact number mentioned on the website.

Apart from possessing a website, Paramount Group also runs social media pages on Facebook, Instagram as well as a YouTube channel. One can look at various options of apartments in Greater Noida offered by the organization and book the apartment of their choice and acquire possession by reviewing sample houses and making decisions appropriately.

So, if you are looking for 2 and 3 BHK flats in Greater Noida, then rest assured with Paramount Group to make your dream of a spacious and luxurious apartment into a reality!

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tsireyasyawntu · 11 months

Text

to be yours

ahsoka tano x fem! reader

as you lie awake at night, the feeling of restleness plagues you. forcing you to consciousness, staring at your white cieling.

Ahsoka is soundly asleep, her head burrowed into your shoulder; her face is calm, comfortable. precisely what you are not. all you wish is to fall asleep— but you know for certain that won't be happening, not right now.

looking down at ahsoka, a fond smile graces your lips upon seeing her. she’s always been so beautiful, on the inside and out.

you subconsciously hold your breathe as you decide to delicately untangle yourself from her arms. her brows scrunch, lips pursing lightly as you quickly replace your warmth with the warmth of your pillow beneath her arms, satisfying the struggle shorty after.

You turn away from her, pushing your legs out of the covers you sit on the side of the bed.

You’ve had a difficult problem sleeping these past few years, since the fall of the republic, the reign of the empire. order 66 is a common factor in your dreams— watching your friends die. Your master, slaughtered right in front of you, her blood coating your face as you fight for your life through fearful, heartbroken tears.

the clones betray you, clones you considered your close friends. it was unlike any fear you’ve ever felt. and it haunts you many years later.

squeezing the mattress beneath your fingers, you glance to ahsoka one last time before you stand up, slipping on your night shoes and grabbing your jacket, you walk through the small hall of your shared house and open the locked door, stepping outside and into the night.

The cold breeze washes over your body like a wave, sending a shiver down your spine as you walk forward, silently shutting the door behind you.

you could barely see, trusting the force and the dim light of the half moon to guide you were they wanted you to be.

It was silent, only leaves and sticks occasionally crushing under your shoes with every other passing step.

you thought back to ahsoka, how she dealt with her nightmares, her fear. the memories of you waking her up with your cries, tears falling over and over as she tries her best to console you. the memory of her waking you from her screams is not forgotten, either.

a gust of wind blew up your sweater— blowing your loose hair from your face. you shut your eyes, trying to connect to the force around you.

if it wants you awake so badly, where exactly does it need you to be?

opening your eyes you sigh, it was no luck, only continuing your path of a seemingly useless walk.

—♡—

ahsoka awoke from her sleep reluctantly, reaching her arms out to retrieve your warmth, only to find you weren’t there.

her eyelids opened, revealing her sleepy blue eyes that scanned the bed.

you were gone, again.

this was nothing new, the nightmares. She herself has been followed by them in her slumber, not ever truly escaping reality. you were always there for her, and she wanted to always be there for you.

She sat up, blinking once, twice and a third time before throwing her tired legs over the side of the bed, coating her feet in her own night slippers; standing up.

Ahsoka grabbed her jacket, shuffling it on as she followed the path you once did down the small of your house and out the door— which she found to be unlocked.

She left the house, closing the door on her way out, setting on her way to find you.

—♡—

your eyes stay closed, your breathing steady. you have not meditated for some time; too afraid of the memories that will follow. The scars that will reopen.

your masters dying face haunts you, the shock, the betrayal and pain. Her scream, the blood, her words.

“run, do not look back. Run!”

repeat, over and over in your head. The clones chasing you, a bullet that flew through you.

You know it’s not possible, but at the reminiscence of the shot, you swore you’d felt the scar spike with the same pain you felt on that day.

“nightmares again?”

Ahsoka’s sleepy voice erupts your dreadful thoughts, and you open your eyes to find her standing beside you, a sad smile on her face.

“no, no.. i couldn’t sleep.” you say, stepping closer to her, a smile following as you do so upon seeing her face.

“Did i wake you?”

“No, you didn’t.”

those words always brought some relief to you, knowing that your problems don’t always have to effect the ones you love so dearly.

“why are you awake, ahsoka? you looked so lovely in your sleep.” you ask, placing your cold hand on her warm, soft face as she smiles into it.

“I missed you. the bed was cold without you, you know.” you laughed, caressing her cheek before sliding your hand away from her, pulling away.

Ahsoka frowns, a knowing feeling in her chest.

“what is it this time?” she asks delicately, and you walk to a bench; a bench you and ahsoka had made when you both moved together, the wood was from a tree she had cut, almost crushing you as she apologized profusely and you only laughed at the misfortune.

You sit, patting the place next to you, ushering her to sit as well. she does. walking over and grabbing your hand; lacing it with hers.

“nothing that hasn’t plagued my mind before.”

“i know. but would you like to talk about it?”

you stay silent, too afraid to say the words aloud.

i’m scared.

Ahsoka rests her head on your shoulder, her warm breath fanning on your neck.

“I know you’re scared, my love.”

maker, she had know idea what she was doing.

“I know you’re scared, and I’m scared too.”

you look to her shorty, tears filling your eyes as your breath hitches, pathetically looking away as you let out a sob.

Ahsoka has seen you cry many times before, as have you seen her shed sad tears of her own.

Ahsokas stomach drops at the sound of your cries. quickly reaching her hand to cup your face, turning it to face her own.

“But please, don’t be scared alone.”

sad sobs and spews of sadness leave your lips, tears running down your face, onto your jacket.

Ahsoka watches in agony, nothing hurts more than seeing the one you love more than anything could ever, possibly dream of describing, cry from such fear right in front of her.

She kisses the tears away, the salty water making its way past her lips and into her mouth, yet you matter much more than sour water.

“It’s okay, y/n. it’s okay to cry.”

your tears continue to fall for a few more minutes, apologizes flowing from your puffy lips halfway through.

“i-im sorry, ahsoka. i’m so sorry, i—”

“There is no need to apologize. I have cried just as much as you, in front of you, my sweet.”

you let out a shaky breath, your grasp on her hand tightening as you sigh.

You’ve never had the guts to tell Ahsoka the whole story of what happened on that day, only brief moments, fleeing fears that are not much of a bother anymore. But with these fears becoming increasingly common, you begin to side with her words.

“You can tell me, I’ll love you no matter what. it will help you to speak your mind, to let someone listen, just as you have done for me.”

You inhale, and look Ahsoka straight in her beautiful, blue eyes.

“I’m.. ready to tell you. Everything.”

she smiled, her hand grasping yours.

“i’m ready to listen.”

you nodded, looking up to the moon.

“I was a Padawan, and my master, Shaak Ti, was going to take me to Kamino for the first time to show me the Clone Facilities. I was so curious as to how it worked, my friends were made in a jar.” you laughed a little at your petty pun, making ahsoka let out an airy giggle of her own.

“But.. then it happened. We were in the loading deck, and a Jedi was beside us. He was shot in the chest. I.. looked around me, and It was my friend, Ash, a clone— who shot that Jedi dead. right in front of me.. I..” Your breaths became heavy, and tears filled your eyes again.

“It’s okay, you don’t have to continue if you aren’t comfortable, y/n.”

You sniffled, clenching your jaw. “No, no.. i’ll.. continue, you deserve as much, Ashoka.” You said, and she squeezed your hand tightly in her own.

“My master grabbed my shoulder, and that’s when i heard her scream. I.. turned around and a lightsaber was coming out of her. I didn’t even dare to look up at who would do such an unimaginable thing. Only focusing on her. I took her hands, and they were covered in blood. She told me to run, to run and protect myself. So I did. I killed clones. I killed my friends, I saw younglings slaughtered, i saw masters killed, I saw.. Anakin.”

Ahsoka sat up, the weight of her head on your shoulder gone in a second. You didn’t dare look at her, jaw clenched so hard you could bite off your tongue.

“Anakin?”

you said nothing for moment, before letting go of her hand.

“Yes, I.. saw him do horrific things. I truly never wanted to tell you, Ahsoka. and I will not continue talking about him, For you.”

Ahsoka said nothing, and for a moment you were afraid she was going to leave.

“No. I want to hear. i want… i want to know what he did.”

“Ahsoka, I really don—” she put a finger on your lips, looking you in the eyes with a soft glance.

“I want to know.”

her finger left and you nodded.

“he.. was the one to slaughter the younglings, he was overtaken by the dark side of the force. I.. he wasn’t Anakin. it was someone else in his body.” You said sadly, closing your eyes.

“I tried to get by him, pleading, begging for my life to be spared— i was so scared I… I didn’t realize I had gotten shot until I was bleeding out. I don’t remember how, or if someone helped me or— what, but i woke up alone, in the sandy desert of the planet Tatooine. where we met years later.”

You finished, ahsoka breathing steadily beside you as you feared the worst of her response.

“I’m so, so sorry, Y/n. if I had gone with him, I could have helped stopped Anakin and he..”

You turned to her, a serious look on your face as you placed a hand to her cheek.

“Ahsoka, I know what you are thinking. He was not your responsibility, he was brainwashed. That was not Anakin Skywalker. That was darth sidious’ apprentice, Darth Vader.” You said firmly, trying to catch her downcast gaze.

Silence followed, the fresh night air flying by you two. Ahsokas eyes were filled with such sadness, it ripped your heart to shreds.

“I love you Ahsoka. I love you more than anything cloud ever love something. so please, look at me.”

her blue eyes met yours, and you smiled. taking her hands in yours, you stood up, her soon following.

You stood there for a moment before you poked her side, sending her a confirming grin: it’s okay.

you kissed her cheek.“You know, you were right about that whole “if you say it, it will help you” thing.” you laughed, bumping her shoulder with yours. She was silent for a while before you received a small, slick grin.

“am I ever wrong, dear?”

you laughed, and you two began to walk back home.

“you know, I think i recall this one time you—”

She let go of your hand, jogging ahead of you. “sorry, what? i cant hear you!”

You laughed, running after her.

she ran into the house, closing the door you had to open to reach her, her coat and slippers left on the floor trailing to your shared bedroom. You grinned, tiptoeing down the hall.

you entered the door way, and she grabbed you from behind, pushing you on the bed.

You both erupt in contagious, whole hearted laughter.

She grabbed your waist, putting her head in the crook of your neck as you continued to laugh.

“I love you.”

Ahsoka said, and your giggles died down a little.

“I love you, too, ‘Soka.”

she looked up at you, her soft burgundy lips meeting yours for the first time this night.

you rested your eyes, heart beating from the running and now sputtering from the kiss.

slumber came to you quickly after that, all thanks to the love of your life.

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